^'^.5"a: 


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Prtttrrtntt  SIjFnlogtral  ^^mtttarg 

^^_^178    ,H47    N4  , 

^^^fts   m  the   Old  mine 


NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 


NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE 
OLD  MINE 

An  Exposition  of  Some  Classic  Passages 

of 

HOLY  SCRIPTURE 


BY 

o.  a.'hills,  d.  d. 

Pastor 

OF 

The  Westminster  Presbyterian  Church 
WoosTER.  Ohio 


Author  of  "Companion  Characters," 
Carmina  Subseciva,"  and  "Songs  from 
the  Sunset  Sea." 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  WESTMINSTER  PRESS 

1906 


Copyright  1906 

by  the  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian 

Board  of  Publication  and 

Sabbath -School  Work 

Published  Septtmber,  iqob 


DEDICATION 

To  the  members  of  the 

Westminster  Presbyterian  Church 

and 

Students  of  the  University  of  Wooster 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Christian's  Hope 3 

The  Awakening  of  a  Soul 25 

Children  of  God 47 

The  School  of  Grace 65 

Worldliness 87 

The  Two  Prayers 105 

The  Victory  of  Faith 125 

The  New  Birth  and  the  New  Faith 145 

The  Gracious  Farewell 163 


"FEASTIN'  ON  THE  WORD" 


"Where  have  you  been  reading  this  morning.  Uncle?" 

"Weel,  Sandy,"  said  the  old  man,  "I  hae  been  gettin'  a 
wonderfu'  feast  yesterday  and  the  day  out  of  the  last  twa 
verses  o'  the  aucht  o'  Romans." 

"And  have  you  not  read  any  more  than  these  two  verses 
in  two  days  ?"  asked  Smith,  with  a  little  surprise. 

"O  surely,  surely,  sir,"  said  my  uncle.  "I  hae  been  delvin' 
owre  a  middle  breadth  of  surface  elsewhere,  but  I  hae  been 
tryin'  to  sink  a  mine  doon  here.  And  I'm  no  doon  at  the 
big  nuggets  yet !  You  see,  sir,  that  I  do  wi'  sic  verses  as  I 
do  wi'  thir  sugar  plooms — will  ye  hae  twa  or  three  o'  them, 
if  ye  please?  I'm  fashed  wi'  a  dryness  in  the  throat,  that 
sets  me  hoastin',  and  Mary  whiles  makes  me  a  lot  o'  plooms. 
She  now  and  then  puts  ane  o'  them  in  her  own  mouth,  but 
she  gies  it  just  a  chew  or  twa,  and  owre  wi'  it,  whiles  I  lay 
mine  in  my  cheek  and  let  it  be  and  melt,  and  do  me  gude  for 
half  a  day.  And  mony  a  ane  does  the  same  wi'  the  Bible. 
They  gallop  owre  a  chapter,  and  its  dune :  but  nae  sic 
waistrie  for  me!  I  like  to  tak'  a  sweet  and  sappie  bit — a 
verse  or  a  word,  maybe — and  let  it  lie  in  my  cheek  and 
melt,  and  fill  my  soul  wi'  its  sweetness,  for  a  day,  or  a  week, 
or  a  month  at  a  time.  Did  ye  ever  try  this  way  o'  feastin' 
on  God's  word,  sir?" 


IX 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


One  of  the  most  valuable  of  my  early  lessons  in 
homiletics  had  respect  to  the  treatment  of  some- 
what extended  portions  of  Scripture,  as  the  ser- 
mon ordinarily  discusses  a  single  verse.  Such 
expositions  of  the  word  do  not  consist  in  scat- 
tering and  illogical  comments,  however  edify- 
ing in  themselves,  on  the  successive  verses  of  a 
passage.  They  are  rather,  as  the  old  Scotch 
Uncle  expresses  it,  "sinking  a  mine  doon"  into 
some  definite  and  segregated  portion  of  Holy 
Writ,  with  a  view  to  bringing  up  and  into  clear- 
est emphasis  its  central  teaching,  and  at  the 
same  time  grouping  all  its  subordinate  thoughts 
in  some  living  order  around  the  leading  idea. 
The  effort  to  do  this  in  a  few  instances  ex- 
plains the  title  of  this  little  volume,  and  gives 
shape  to  the  discussions  herein  recorded. 

I  have  ventured  to  adhere  to  the  numbered 
heads  of  discourse,  though  this  seems  just  now 
to  be  a  little  ''out  of  style."  An  experience  of 
over  forty  years  in  the  ministry  has  convinced 


xii  PREFATORY  NOTE 

me  that  the  large  majority  of  plain  people  hear 
with  more  comfort,  and  recall  with  more  ease, 
the  sermons  that  have  "a.  few  pegs  to  hang  the 
memory  on."  And,  even  to  a  reader,  though 
less  needful,  they  are  not  wholly  useless.  At 
the  same  time,  while  making  them  compre- 
hensive in  every  case  of  the  entire  passage 
under  consideration,  I  have  sought  to  frame 
them  in  a  few  clear  words,  remembering  the 
adage,  *'The  less  sash  the  more  light." 

It  is  my  earnest  prayer  that  the  truths  of  these 
classic  passages  may  prove  none  the  less  "sweet 
and  sappie  bits"  to  the  spiritual  taste,  that  they 
are  here  set  forth  in  an  orderly  array. 

The  Author. 

Wooster,  Ohio. 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE 


NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE 

"Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  according  to  His  great  mercy  begat  us  again  unto 
a  living  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
dead,  unto  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and 
that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you,  who  by 
the  power  of  God  are  guarded  through  faith  unto  a  salva- 
tion ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time." — I  Peter  i :  3-5. 

Hope  is  man's  fast  and  firmest  earthly  friend. 
When  all  others  forsake  him,  she  remains  his 
steadfast  companion  and  comforter.  This,  the 
common  experience  of  men,  is  beautifully 
embodied  in  the  old  classic  legend.  As  related  by 
some,  Pandora,  the  goddess  all-gifted,  as  her 
name  implies,  came  to  bless  mankind.  Her  box 
was  richly  freighted  with  mercies  contributed  by 
her  numerous  companion-divinities;  and  her 
advent  was  hailed  with  songs  of  gladness  by  those 
about  to  receive  her  benefactions.  But  alas  for 
them,  in  an  incautious  moment  the  beautiful  mes- 
senger opened  her  treasure  chest ;  and  all  her  bless- 

3 


4  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

ings,  save  one,  escaped  beyond  recovery,  before 
she  could  again  shut  down  the  Hd.  That  one  was 
Hope.  Wisely  and  happily  for  man,  she  was  not 
permitted  to  join  the  flight  of  other  blessings. 
And  so  it  comes  about  that  ever  since,  in  every 
heart,  hope  is  found  the  earliest  and  the  latest 
guest,  first  to  enter  and  last  to  leave  her  human 
habitation. 

It  is  only  a  fable,  but  truth  lies  under  the  drapery 
of  the  parable.  Hope  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
emotions  of  the  soul.  She  makes  the  weak  strong, 
and  nerves  the  spirit  to  well-nigh  superhuman 
effort.  She  is  the  spring  and  joy  of  life.  With 
more  than  a  painter's  power  she  covers  the  dark 
waters  with  a  silvery  sheen.  With  more  than  a 
magician's  skill  she  transforms  the  present  wilder- 
ness into  a  paradise  of  beauty  and  of  peace.  And 
when  she  leaves  the  soul,  it  is  as  when  one  turns 
the  key  in  the  rusty  lock  and  leaves  the  old  house 
with  shutterless  windows  and  leaking  roof  and 
unhinged  doors  to  degenerate  into  a  drearier 
dilapidation — the  home  henceforth  of  nerveless 
and  effortless  despair. 

So  men  cling  to  Hope.  When  she  is  gone,  all 
is  gone!  While  she  remains,  they  cannot  be 
entirely  alone.  And  as  to  the  life  that  now  is, 
they  seek  the  firmest  and  broadest  foundations  on 
which  to  plant  their  hopes.     But  how  frail  that 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  5 

basis,  and  how  feeble  their  hope  as  to  the  Hfe 
which  is  to  come !  Significant  and  solemn  are  the 
words  of  Holy  Scripture  concerning  men  in  this 
respect — ''having  no  hope."  The  multitudes  are 
forever  battling  with  the  trials  of  our  mortal 
state;  and  as  to  the  eternal  world  they  are  with- 
out hope.  It  is  to  them  a  land  of  darkness.  No 
sun  shines  on  the  spirit  realm.  There  are  no 
loves  nor  joys  for  them  beyond  the  sepulchre. 
And  with  a  dread  unspeakable  they  contemplate 
the  close  of  life.  Or  should  they  have  some 
brighter  conception  of  the  future  state,  such  as 
Christianity  gives  even  to  the  unbeliever,  they 
have  but  vague  and  unsubstantial  grounds  of  hope 
that  its  blessedness  shall  ever  come  to  them.  In 
all  essential  respects  they  live  without  any  well- 
founded  hope  of  heaven. 

It  is  in  contrast  with  this  experience  of  men 
that  Peter  here  speaks  of  the  Christian's  expecta- 
tion as  a  "living  hope."  As  Christ  is  the  "living 
stone"  chiefly,  perhaps,  because  He  imparts  life  to 
the  entire  edifice,  so  this  feeling  of  the  soul  is  a 
"living  hope,"  because  it  gives  that  soul  the  in- 
spiration of  new  being.  It  is  no  indefinite  ex- 
pectation such  as  that  with  which  many  delude 
themselves.  It  has  the  firmest  foundation ;  and, 
in  its  object,  it  possesses  the  sweep  of  the  eternal 
world. 


6  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

To  this  Object  and  Ground  of  the  Christian's 
Hope  I  invite  your  attention  in  a  famiHar  exposi- 
tion of  the  text. 

I.  The  Object 

All  objects  of  hope  rest,  of  course,  in  the  bosom 
of  the  future.  They  lie  below  the  visible  horizon, 
for  ''who  hopeth  for  that  which  he  seeth?" 
This  is  preeminently  so  of  the  great  hope  of  the 
Christian.  The  object  of  it,  says  Peter,  in  this 
passage,  is  ''an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and 
undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in 
heaven"  for  him.  His  portion  is  found  beyond  the 
grave.  There  are  the  joys  that  satisfy  and  sanc- 
tify the  soul.  There  gather  his  believing  friends 
in  an  ever-enlarging  circle.  There  reigns  his 
;gracious  Redeemer  upon  a  throne  of  love.  And 
thitherward  go  forward  the  affections  of  his 
'entire  nature — the  daily  strengthening  cords 
w^hich  shall  bind  and  bring  him  home.  These  are 
the  objects  on  which  his  hope  is  supremely  set. 
And  in  the  text  they  are  summed  up  in  the  one 
word — "inheritance." 

It  is  in  contrast  with  the  vague  and  shadowy 
hopes  of  worldly  and  unbelieving  men  that  Peter 
calls  this  of  the  Christian  a  "living"  hope.  The 
fitness  of  this  designation  is  apparent  from  the 
term  here  used  to  describe  the  object  to  which 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  7 

the  Christian's  hope  looks.  It  is  "an  inheritance." 
It  is,  then,  a  reality.  It  is  no  shadow.  It  is  no 
summer  cloud,  to  be  dissipated  by  the  rays  of  the 
sun  of  truth.  It  is  no  mirage  of  the  desert, 
looming  up  on  the  horizon  of  time,  with  all  its 
appearance  of  fact  and  substance,  in  walls  and 
domes,  in  trees  and  fountains,  in  flowers  and 
fruits — but  destined  to  fade  into  the  viewless  air, 
as  the  tired  but  expectant  traveler  nears  the 
enchanting  scene.  It  is  a  substantial  fact.  It 
is  a  veritable  possession.  The  Christian  did 
not,  indeed,  plan  for  it.  It  was  not  the  work  of 
his  hand  or  the  toil  of  his  brain  that  gathered 
it.  No  groans  nor  tears  of  his  nor  wealth  of  his 
affections  are  represented  in  its  great  propor- 
tions. To  build  it  up,  he  cannot  say,  as  Jacob 
said  of  his  years  of  service,  'Tn  the  day  the 
drought  consumed  me,  and  the  frost  by 
night;  and  my  sleep  fled  from  mine  eyes." 
Other  hands  have  toiled;  another  mind  has 
planned.  Through  sweat  and  blood,  with 
sighs  and  cries,  by  consuming  work  and 
corroding  suffering,  the  vast  possession  has 
been  accumulated !  But  the  believer  can  claim 
no  credit  for  it.  It  is  his,  but  his  only  by  inheri- 
tance. It  simply  descends  to  him  according  to 
the  laws  which  govern  the  transmission  of 
estates. 


8  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

The  word,  therefore,  indicates  more  than  the 
actual  existence  of  the  possession.  It  shows 
the  Christian  also  and  especially  the  certainty 
that  it  shall  one  day  become  absolutely  and 
thoroughly  his  own.  The  security  of  an  inheri- 
tance is  fundamental  to  the  stability  of  society. 
To  guard  this,  the  wisdom  and  power  of  law 
have  everywhere  been  evoked,  and  the  sanc- 
tions of  immemorial  custom  have  been  brought 
into  requisition.  As  a  result,  possession  by  in- 
heritance is  one  of  the  most  certain  of  all  things 
in  this  uncertain  world.  Only  prove  one's 
heirship,  and  the  w^hole  force  of  all  law  and  cus- 
tom and  opinion  and  government  will  combine 
to  give  him  his  inheritance.  He  is  reasonably 
certain  of  finally  obtaining  it.  But  he  does  not 
yet  possess  it.  He  lives,  therefore,  in  hope.  And 
his,  we  say,  is  a  ''living  hope."  This,  descrip- 
tive of  any  earthly  estate,  is  infinitely  more  true 
of  the  Christian's  inheritance.  It  is  the  only 
and  the  great  certainty  in  the  way  of  in- 
heritance. He  has  not  yet  entered  into  posses- 
sion; but  he  will  obtain  it,  with  an  absolutely  in- 
fallible certainty.  'They  may  die,"  you  can  say 
of  other  prospective  heirs.  So  may  the  Chris- 
tian. But  this  works  no  disappointment  or  for- 
feit. With  other  estates,  the  possessors  must 
die,  before  the  heirs  can  enjoy  their  advantages. 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  9 

With  that  heavenly  estate,  the  rule  is  reversed. 
The  present  possessor  lives  on  and  evermore:  it 
is  the  heir  who  must  die  in  order  to  his  entrance 
upon  his  inheritance. 

If,  now,  we  turn  from  this  general  view  of 
the  object  of  the  Christian's  hope  and,  guided 
by  the  text,  seek  to  examine  it  more  particu- 
larly, we  meet  the  difficulty  which  seems  to  have 
been  before  the  mind  of  Peter.  How  can  one 
describe  that  which  he  has  not  seen?  And 
even  if  directed  by  the  inspiring  Spirit,  how  can 
one  portray  in  human  speech  that  which,  be- 
cause of  its  surpassing  glory,  cannot  be  com- 
passed in  the  language  of  men?  The  attempt 
were  vain.  And  Peter  does  not  make  the  trial. 
Neither  version  makes  plain  what  is  so  evident 
in  the  original,  that  the  apostle,  in  the  structure 
of  the  words  he  uses,  describes  this  heavenly 
inheritance,  not  in  any  positive  terms  that  fill 
our  minds  with  new  and  otherwise  unknown 
conceptions  of  it,  but  in  simple  negations.  He 
can  describe  the  object  on  which  our  hope  is 
set  only  by  denying  that  it  is  disfigured  by  any 
of  the  imperfections  which  meet  us  here  on 
every  hand.  Literally  he  says  of  this  in- 
heritance that  it  is  "not  corruptible,  not  defiled, 
not  fading."  Whatever  of  imperfectness  and 
perishableness    exists    on    earth    is    not    found 


10  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

there,    and    does    not    affect    the    heavenly    in- 
heritance ! 

The  descriptive  words  are  not  positive  asser- 
tions, but  simple  negations.  And  yet  they  are 
significant,  as  a  glance  at  them  will  show. 

For  one  thing,  the  inheritance  is  ''not  cor- 
ruptible.'' This  object  of  the  Christian's  hope 
contains  within  itself  no  germs  of  death.  Of  no 
earthly  reliance  can  such  a  statement  be  made. 
It  is  the  most  common  experience  of  men  that 
the  things  toward  which  they  look  with  ex- 
pectancy and  longing  perish  before  their  eyes. 
They  crumble  in  the  grasp  of  their  hands;  they 
sink  beneath  the  pressure  of  their  feet.  You 
have  seen  parental  hearts  bound  up  in  a  daugh- 
ter's life.  Full  of  promise,  she  w^as  rapidly 
maturing  into  noble  and  beautiful  womanhood. 
But  the  discerning  eye  could  see  that  even  that 
beauty  had  in  it  the  elements  of  decay.  Its 
brightest  lines  w^ere  only  touches  of  the  death- 
angel,  labelling  the  fair  form  for  his  own 
possession.  So,  as  we  think  of  that  blessed 
object  of  our  hopes  beyond  the  skies  and  are 
assured  that  it  is  beautiful  beyond  compare,  how 
natural  and  spontaneous  the  inquiries :  Is  it 
incorruptible?  Does  it  possess  no  germs  of 
decay?  Are  its  glorious  hues  but  autumn  tints, 
to  tell  of  an  ebbing  life  and  to  foretell  a  coming 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  ii 

winter?  To  meet  such  questions  Peter  seems 
to  say,  ''Whatever  the  inheritance  is — and  what 
it  is  I  know  not — it  is  not  this.  It  is  not  cor- 
ruptible. It  has  within  itself  no  seeds  of  death." 
Again,  this  inheritance — object  of  the  Chris- 
tian's hope  (if  I  may  coin  the  word) — is  "not 
defilable."  Another  negation,  the  term  is  not 
less  suggestive  than  the  one  just  referred  to.  The 
land  of  Canaan  was  the  inheritance  of  Israel; 
but  it  had  been  defiled  by  the  sins  of  the  nations, 
which  had  filled  up  the  measure  of  their  iniquity, 
and  its  stains  could  be  washed  out  only  with 
blood.  Again  by  Israel's  sins  it  was  polluted, 
and  cleansed  only  by  a  sabbath  of  seventy  years. 
The  primeval  world  was  so  filled  with  abomina- 
tions that  nothing  less  than  a  deluge  could  wash 
away  the  awful  stains.  And  the  world  that  now 
is  shall  yet  receive  her  purifying  baptism  of 
fire.  Sin  touches  and  stains  everything  below. 
It  defiles  our  every  possession.  It  pollutes  even 
our  inheritances.  One  of  the  early  fathers  of  the 
church,  with  a  sweeping  generalization  that  yet 
is  not  wholly  untrue,  says,  ''The  rich  man  is 
either  a  dishonest  man  himself,  or  the  heir  of  a 
dishonest  man."  There  are  few  earthly  posses- 
sions or  inheritances,  which  are  not  in  some  way 
defiled  by  the  accumulator's  sins,  or  those  of  his 
heirs.     But,   God  be  praised !  that  heavenly  in- 


12  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

heritance  shall  never — can  never — have  a  stain 
of  sin!     It  is  "not  defilable.'' 

I  cannot  forbear,  also,  calling  your  attention 
to  the  exceeding  great  beauty  and  expressive- 
ness of  this  word  in  the  original  Greek.  You 
all  know  what  asbestos  is — that  singular  mineral, 
so  fibrous  in  structure  that,  like  threads,  its 
fibres  can  be  drawn  out  and  woven  into  cloth. 
This  fabric  is  indestructible  by  fire,  and  will 
come  out  of  the  furnace,  heated  seven  times,  as 
pure  and  as  white  as  the  driven  snow.  The 
finest  variety  has  the  beauty  and  lustre  of  satin. 
The  Greeks  gave  it  a  special  and  significant 
name.  That  name  is  the  word  here  used  by 
Peter  to  describe  the  inheritance  beyond  the 
skies.  Bought  with  a  price,  and  purified  as  by 
fire,  it  is  the  ''undefiled"  and  ''undefilable." 

Yet  again,  it  ''fadeth  not  away" — literally  it  is 
''not  fading."  This  word  has  special  reference 
to  the  loveliness  of  the  possession.  As  Alford 
says,  "In  substance  it  is  incorruptible,  in  purity 
undefiled,  in  beauty  unfading."  The  one  idea, 
running  through  all  these  terms,  is  the  safety 
and  security  of  the  inheritance — the  permanent 
nature  of  this  object  of  our  hope.  This  word 
continues  that  thought,  and  strengthens  it.  It 
is  "not  fading,"  as  much  as  to  say,  even  the  most 
delicate  part  of  the  inheritance  above,  its  bloom 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  13 

and  flowering,  continues  in  unwithering  fresh- 
ness. Our  earthly  possessions  are  most  beau- 
tiful, when  they  put  on  the  gorgeous  coloring  of 
the  floral  world.  But  just  then  we  feel  most 
deeply  that  they  are  transient — only  of  the  day. 
Oh,  could  we  but  fasten  in  immortal  lines  the 
colors  of  their  resplendent  robes !  The  wish  is 
realized  beyond  the  stars,  where  the  flowers 
bloom  in  unfading  glory  in  the  blessed  light  of 
heaven.  This  heavenly  inheritance — object  ever 
grand  and  blessed  of  the  Christian's  hope — is 
''not  fading." 

It  may  fix  the  word  in  memory  to  observe 
that  it  is  the  original  of  our  English  term — 
''amaranth."  As  to  the  faithful  elders,  this  same 
Peter,  himself  also  an  elder,  gives  the  assurance 
that  "when  the  chief  shepherd  shall  appear, 
they  shall  receive  an  amaranthine  crown  of 
glory,"  so  here  he  speaks  of  the  object  of  our 
hope  as  the  "amaranthine  inheritance."  It  is 
eternally  abiding ! 

In  the  same  line  of  thought,  the  apostle  says 
it  is  "reserved  in  heaven  for  you."  Passing 
from  negative  descriptions,  he  thus  briefly  in- 
dicates the  place  of  its  keeping.  His  language 
is  more  suggestive  than  at  first  sight  appears. 
Let  me  stay  a  moment  only  to  uncover  the 
charming   scene   from   which    in   all    probability 


14  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

Peter's  word  is  derived.  Preceding  holidays, 
birthdays,  and  other  anniversaries,  you  will  see 
parents  and  friends  visiting  the  stores  and  shops, 
and  buying  presents  and  little  remembrances  for 
their  children  and  other  relatives.  These  pros- 
pective gifts  are  carefully  stowed  away,  con- 
cealed not  only  from  the  sight,  but  also  from 
even  the  knowledge  of  those  for  whom  they  are 
intended.  This  is  one  of  the  most  delightful 
scenes  of  our  home  life.  And  we  all  know  how 
glad  the  day,  how  exuberant  and  tumultuous  the 
joy,  when  these  safely  hidden  stores  are  brought 
forth  and  bestowed  upon  the  surprised  and  de- 
lighted little  folk.  The  custom  descends  from 
immemorial  times.  It  had  its  place,  there  is 
reason  to  believe,  even  among  the  ancient 
Greeks.  And  the  word  which  they  used  to 
describe  the  destined  but  yet  hidden  gift  is  the 
word  by  which  Peter  here  describes  the  object 
of  our  hope,  ''reserved  in  heaven  for  you,"  hid 
aw^ay  for  the  present,  but  ''ready  to  be  revealed 
in  the  last  time." 

The  word  is  laden  with  the  tenderest  associa- 
tions. Our  Father  bequeathes  to  us.  His  little 
children,  an  inheritance.  He  has  bought  it,  not 
with  money,  but  w^ith  blood !  And  now  it  lies 
beyond  the  veil,  safely  stored  away.  As  children 
generally  do,  we  have  got  some  vague  inkling  of 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  15 

what  it  is  even  now;  but  it  is  only  an  inkling. 
Some  day  (how  soon,  who  can  tell?)  our 
Father's  loving  hand  shall  put  aside  the  curtain, 
and,  amidst  the  holy  joys  of  the  grand  house- 
hold, shall  surprise  us  with  its  glorious  beauty 
and  perennial  worth.  A  world  of  thought  is  in 
the  expression — certainty,  for  it  is  stored  away 
for  us;  concealment,  for  we  have  as  yet  the  most 
indefinite  conceptions  of  it;  surprise,  for  we  shall 
awake  most  suddenly  to  a  realization  of  its  price- 
less value. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  but  a  glance  at  the  object 
of  the  Christian's  hope.  It  is  ''an  inheritance, 
not  corruptible,  not  defilable,  not  fading,  re- 
served in  heaven"  for  him.  How  simple,  yet 
how  suggestive,  are  the  Holy  Spirit's  words  t 
How^  beautiful  are  the  original  pictures  which 
underlie  the  words  of  inspiration ! 

n.     The  Ground 

The  leading  conclusion  from  the  topic  just 
considered  is  the  abiding  nature  of  the  object 
on  which  the  Christian's  hope  is  fixed.  The 
same  thought  comes  into  great  prominence 
in  the  topic  now  to  be  examined.  The 
ground  of  our  hope  is  just  as  certain  as  its  ob- 
ject.    For,    speaking    generally,    our    hope  of 


i6  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

finally  entering  upon  the  heavenly  inheritance  is 
not  grounded  upon  anything  that  we  are  able  to 
accomplish,  but  upon  divine  grace  alone.  This 
is  our  perpetual  thanksgiving,  says  the  apostle, 
that  the  "God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  has  quickened  w^ithin  us  this  ''living 
hope,"  according  to  "His  great  mercy." 

Then,  considering  this  ground  of  our  hope 
in  a  more  particular  analysis  of  the  remainder  of 
the  text,  we  shall  find  its  certainty  to  rest  upon 
evidence  of  a  twofold  character — that  which  is 
external  to  ourselves  and  that  which  is  found  in 
our  own  souls. 

First  as  to  the  outward  evidence.  Can  we 
fail  to  remember  what  a  shadow  rests  upon  the 
minds  of  men  who  know  nothing  of  Chris- 
tianity, or  who  have  no  faith  in  its  fundamental 
facts  respecting  a  future  state?  This  object  of 
our  hope,  which  we  have  seen  to  be  so  real  and 
so  eternal,  so  pure  and  so  beautiful,  to  them  dis- 
solves into  an  unsubstantial  dream.  And  so 
their  darkened  spirits  are  forever  crying:  "Is 
there  any  future  life  at  all?  Is  it  certain  that  this 
life  is  not  the  last  of  us?  All  that  we  see,  either 
of  ourselves  or  of  others,  does  perish :  is  not 
the  weight  of  evidence,  therefore,  against  our 
living  hereafter?  Who  can  answer  the  ques- 
tion :  If  a  man  die  shall  he  live  again  ?     Who 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  17 

can  give  us  any  real  information  of  another 
world?  Has  any  one  been  there,  and  returned? 
Has  any  one  brought  tidings?  Can  he  tell  us 
that  there  is  a  world  beyond  the  sepulchre? 
Can  he  say  there  is  a  God?  Can  he  assure  us 
that  God  hears  prayer?"  And  so  they  stum- 
ble on  in  darkness,  and  doubting  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  any  real  possessions  beyond  the  gates 
of  death. 

To  the  Christian  there  is  no  such  uncertainty. 
There  is  a  heavenly  inheritance,  and  he  has  a 
"living  hope"  of  eventually  being  invested  with 
its  possession.  That  hope,  says  the  apostle  in 
the  text,  is  grounded  upon  the  great  and  sol- 
emnly certified  fact  of  ''the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead."  This  one  stupendous 
fact  answers  the  queries  of  a  troubled  spirit, 
swelling  with  immortal  aspirations.  "Life  and 
immortality  are  brought  to  light  in  the  gospel." 
There  is  a  future  world.  If  a  man  die,  he  shall 
live  again;  for  Christ  died,  and  He  lives  again. 
He  visited  the  world  of  spirits,  and  brought  us 
tidings  from  the  land  that  seems  so  far  off.  The 
object  of  our  hope  is  a  veritable  reality.  The 
external  ground  of  it  is  in  the  fact  of  our  Re- 
deemer's resurrection. 

But,  admitting  the  existence  of  that  blessed 
world,  the  reality  of  "the  inheritance,  not  cor- 


i8  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

ruptible,  not  defilable,  and  not  fading,  reserved 
in  heaven  for  us" — can  we  know  that  it  is  stored 
away  beyond  a  doubt  for  us?  Shall  it  one  day 
become  our  own  possession?  This  ground  of 
the  Christian's  hope  is  to  be  sought  and  found 
in  his  own  soul.  With  this  thought,  the  analysis 
and  exposition  of  the  text  will  be  complete. 

The  ground  of  hope  is  as  certain  as  the  ob- 
ject. That  certainty  rests  upon  evidence  both 
external  and  internal.  Passing  now  from  the 
outward  fact  to  the  inward  experience,  suppose 
we  join  together  the  two  great  topics  of  the  text. 
AVith  the  apostle's  simple  but  mighty  logic 
binding  into  one  the  object  and  ground  of  hope, 
we  need  once  more  the  reminder  that  that  object 
is  an  ''inheritance."  Whose  then  is  the  inheri- 
tance, but  the  heirs'  ?  And  who  are  the  heirs, 
but  the  children?  This  is  our  firm  foundation — 
the  internal  ground  of  our  hope.  We  are  chil- 
dren of  God,  "and  if  children,  then  heirs,"  says 
Paul,  ''heirs  of  God,  and  joint-heirs  with  Christ." 
Peter  states  the  same  truth  in  the  text,  in  differ- 
ent words,  but  not  less  clearly.  God  "according 
to  His  great  mercy  begat  us  again  unto  a  living 
hope."  Some  are  born  to  fortune  and  some 
are  born  to  fame;  but  we  are  "born  again"  to  the 
hope  of  "an  amaranthine  inheritance."  These 
are  two  of  the  great  certainties:  there  is  a  holy, 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE  ig 

happy,  heavenly  world;  and  we,  the  children, 
wait  a  little  while  to  be  invested  with  its  com- 
plete possession. 

We  use  the  language  of  undoubting  cer- 
tainty. Is  there  no  possible  mistake?  Not  all 
who  are  born  to  earthly  things  do  actually  enter 
upon  their  inherited  possessions.  May  we  not 
also  fail  of  the  full  fruition  of  our  hope?  The 
apostle  seems  to  anticipate  the  question;  and  in 
a  word  he  dissipates  the  doubt.  Whoever  else 
may  come  short,  we  cannot  fail  who  "by  the 
power  of  God  are  guarded."  ''By  the  power  of 
God  are  guarded!"  The  world  sleeps  in  His 
hands;  the  eternally  saved  rest  in  His  bosom. 
Who  can  guard  us  as  does  God?  It  was  God 
who  kept  Elisha,  when  the  mountains  were  full 
of  horses  and  chariots  round  about  the  prophet. 
This  is  the  divine  keeping;  for  Peter's  word 
signifies  "being  guarded  as  with  a  military  force." 
Children  of  God,  as  a  father  would  guard  and  die 
for  his  children,  so  our  Father,  God,  wih  guard 
our  believing  spirits,  though  to  accomplish  that 
keeping  He  must  take  defenders  from  the  bat- 
tlements of  glory,  and  send  the  royal  cohorts 
of  angels,  principalities,  and  powers  to  stand  un- 
ceasing guard  around  the  beleaguered  and  be- 
lieving children  of  His  love  and  likeness. 

I  say  believing  children,  for  the  principle  that 


20  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

governs  the  keeping  is  ''faith."  The  inherit- 
ance is  reserved  for  those  "who  by  the  power  of 
God  are  guarded  through  faith."  God's  guard- 
ing promises  no  immunity  from  temptation. 
The  Lord  prayed  for  this  same  Peter,  not  that 
Satan  might  not  sift  him,  but  that  his  faith  might 
not  fail !  It  is,  indeed,  a  pecuHar  but  a  grand 
war.  The  guard  does  not  keep  out  the  enemy — 
no  need  of  that — but  it  does  keep  in  the  faith. 
And,  while  faith  fails  not,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  her  sister,  hope — grounded  upon  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the  new  birth  of  the 
soul — shall  realize  her  object  in  "the  inheritance, 
not  corruptible,  not  defilable,  not  fading,  re- 
served in  heaven."  For  this  guarding,  says 
Peter,  who  speaks  whereof  he  knew  by  a  pain- 
ful but  blessed  experience,  is  ''unto  salvation" — 

"Where    faith    is    sweetly    lost    in    sight, 
And  hope  in  full  supreme  delight, 
And  everlasting  love." 

There  is  one  obvious  conclusion  from  this  ex- 
position. It  leaves  us  where  the  apostle  be- 
gan. In  a  world  that  indulges  in  delusive  ex- 
pectations or  is  stricken  with  hopelessness,  if  to 
us  has  been  given  such  a  hope,  with  such  an  end 
and  such  a  foundation,  shall  we  not  heartily 
join    the   apostle's    anthem    of   praise?    "Blessed 


THE   CHRISTIAN'S   HOPE  21 

be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ !"  It  was  a  grand  outburst  of  sacred  joy 
as  it  came  from  Peter's  Hps — a  noble  and  fitting 
doxology,  with  which  to  begin  his  loving  letter 
to  the  strangers  who  were  scattered  abroad. 

As  fittingly  may  we  renew  the  song  from  day 
to  day,  an  ever  blessed  prelude  to  our  blessed 
work  of  giving  hope  to  hopeless  men.  We  are 
the  children  of  hope!  It  is  the  God  of  hope 
who  sends  us  forth !  It  is  the  Almighty  Saviour, 
who  has  risen  from  the  dead,  and  gone  to  the 
right  hand  of  God  the  Father,  who  says  to  you 
and  me,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world." 

Saviour  Divine !  endow  us  with  faith  and  hope 
in  Thy  blessed  work. 


THE  AWAKENING  OF  A  SOUL 


THE  AWAKENING  OF  A  SOUL 

I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  He. — John  iv :  26. 

A  passing  interview,  with  consequences 
stretching  over  many  years!  Two  strangers 
meeting  by  the  way,  to  separate  as  hfelong 
friends!  The  young  student's  coveted  confer- 
ence with  a  master,  whether  in  reUgion,  science, 
or  hterature,  whence  proceed  subtle  and 
powerful  influences,  which  shall  mold  the  young 
life  and  shape  the  forming  character!  Who 
cannot  recall  illustrations  of  all  these,  in  the 
circle  of  his  observation — possibly  in  the  sphere 
of  his  own  experience? 

Who  does  not  find  in  these  momentary,  and, 
as  men  call  them,  accidental  encounters  in  life,  a 
fruitful  subject  for  speculation  and  inquiry, — con- 
cerning the  long  chain  of  occult  causes  by  which 
they  were  brought  about,  or  the  far-reaching, 
pregnant,  and  inter-bound  results?  Greater 
than  any  of  these,  in  suggestiveness  of  thought 
and  marvel,  both  as  to  its  character  and  its  con- 
sequences, is  the  illustration  furnished  by  this 
wayside  interview  between  a  sinner  and  her 
Saviour — the  culminating  words  of  which  are 
given  in  the  text. 

25 


26  NEW    SHAFTS    IN   THE   OLD   MINE 

The  place  was  historic  ground.  It  was  be- 
tween Mount  Ebal  and  Mount  Gerizim — the 
ancient  peaks  of  alternate  cursing  and  blessing. 
At  the  intersection  of  the  beautiful  vale  of 
Shechem  with  the  larger  plain  of  Moreh,  is  found 
the  well  of  the  patriarch  Jacob.  Here  rested  on 
the  well-curb,  in  that  noontide  hour,  a  foot-sore 
pilgrim, 

''Strange  and  Kingly, 
Never  such  was  seen  before." 

A  weary  Saviour,  He  was  about  to  give  rest  to 
a  weary  soul!  Thirsty  Himself,  He  was  yet  a 
living  fountain  to  this  thirsty  spirit !  ■  Hungry, 
He  fed  upon  invisible  and  heavenly  food ! 

Thither  went  the  woman,  who  was  a  sinner  of 
Samaria.  Here,  as  never  before,  she  is  to  meet 
that  ''true,  poor,  and  tender  man,  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth." She  came  in  blindness  to  receive  her 
sight !  All  unconscious  of  her  destiny,  she  came 
asleep — enshrouded  in  the  darkness  of  the  night 
— to  be  thoroughly  awaked,  and  to  enter  upon  a 
new  and  glorious  day!  This  is  the  aspect  of  the 
narrative,  which  deserves  our  thoughtful  con- 
sideration. The  awakening  of  a  soul  is  here 
described  by  the  evangelist  in  language  of 
inimitable  simplicity  and  power.  The  story 
dwells  upon  four  steps  in  the  process.    We  have, 


THE   AWAKENING   OF   A    SOUL  27 


I.     The  Awakening  of  Attention 

A  most  difficult  thing  to  do,  as  all  who  have 
tried  it  will  admit — the  Lord  does  it  in  the  most 
simple  and  natural,  yet  effective  manner,  by  ask- 
ing for  a  drink  of  water.  The  woman  knew  Him 
to  be  a  Jew.  She  had  reason  to  believe  that  He 
knew  her  to  be  a  Samaritan.  His  request, 
therefore,  excited  her  surprise  and  arrested  her 
attention. 

The  alienation  between  the  Jews  and  Samari- 
tans had  spanned  the  changing  centuries,  an 
unchanging  and  irreconcilable  controversy. 
They  were  neighbors  only  in  geographical  loca- 
tion; in  all  community  of  interests  and  close- 
ness of  fellowship  they  might  better  have  been 
at  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Theirs  was  one  of 
many  implacable  religious  quarrels — the  most 
tenacious  and  venomous  of  all  controversies, 
next  to  the  family  feud,  in  which  men  can  suffer 
themselves  to  become  involved.  But  the 
gracious  Lord  here  breaks  over  all  the  barriers 
built  up  by  the  quarrels  of  race,  extracting  the 
sweetest  honey  from  the  bitterest  flowers  of 
religious  prejudice  and  national  alienation,  and 
so  wins  the  attention  of  the  woman  whose  soul 
He  came  to  save. 


28  NEW    SHAFTS    IN   THE   OLD   MINE 

The  Lord's  wise  manner  of  introducing  the 
subject  of  rehgion  is  well  illustrated  in  this  in- 
cident. How  difificult  a  thing  it  is  for  us  to  do 
in  any  fruitful  way!  And  how  blunderingly  we 
accomplish  it!  Our  tongues  run  on  lubricated 
pinions  as  we  talk  to  our  fellow-men  of  our  mu- 
tual earthly  interests;  but  how  falteringly  they 
voice  the  desires  of  our  hearts  when  w^e  come  to 
plead  for  Christ  and  the  eternal  verities,  in 
which  they  and  we  should  have  abiding  interest. 
As  the  sun  opens  the  rose,  so  Christ  opened  this 
sealed  spirit.  We  pluck  and  lacerate  the  tender 
petals  as  we  seek  to  bring  the  bud  to  fullest 
flowering;  but  under  the  benign  beams  of  the 
sun  it  swells  and  bursts  into  glory,  adorning  the 
world  with  its  matchless  coloring  and  filling  the 
air  with  the  "odors  of  Eden,"  a  creature  of 
beauty  and  fragrance  inimitable. 

Oh,  that  in  this  we  might  imitate  our  blessed 
Lord,  with  gentle  and  persuasive  insinuation 
leading  our  loved  ones  to  the  consideration  of 
spiritual  things,  and  the  opening  of  their  ears  to 
the  voices  of  grace !  With  our  Lord's  example 
before  us,  shall  we  not  often  find  an  open  heart 
by  asking  a  favor?  Is  there  not  such  a  wise 
thing  as  a  sincere  ministering  to  one's — self- 
love,  shall  I  call  it? — giving  him  the  advantage 
in  the  conversation,  putting  it  into  his  power  to 


THE   AWAKENING   OF   A    SOUL  29 

refuse  the  overture,  and  yet  so  presenting  it 
that  his  heart  shall  incline  him  to  accept  it? 

The  topic  through  which  our  Lord  brought 
up  the  subject  of  religion  was  eminently  fitting. 
He  might  have  spoken  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim, 
with  the  blessings  and  curses  of  the  law,  re- 
ceived in  common  by  His  people  and  hers,  con- 
trasting with  it  her  sinful  life,  and  pointing  her 
to  the  inevitable  and  disastrous  end  of  dis- 
obedience. He  might  have  spoken,  as  after- 
wards He  did  to  His  disciples,  of  the  whitening 
fields,  and  the  garnering  time  of  the  soul,  when 
she  must  certainly  reap  the  harvest  of  her  sinful 
sowing.  These  would  have  been  pertinent, 
timely,  and  fruitful  themes  for  the  Prophet  of 
Galilee;  and  under  His  divine  leading  their  ap- 
plication to  this  woman's  heart  and  conscience 
would  have  been  cogent  and  powerful — even 
overwhelming. 

But  the  Lord  chose,  and  wisely  chose,  to 
speak  of  the  water.  The  well  was  there  between 
them;  and  He  was  weary  and  thirsty.  The 
noonday  scorching  heat  made  it  a  welcome 
object  to  both  of  them.  And  the  woman's 
present  thought  and  errand  had  respect  to  the 
water. 

So,  drawing  His  opportunity  from  the  reli- 
gious  quarrels   of  their   respective   nations,    and 


30  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

from  the  woman's  desire  and  purpose  in  coming- 
to  the  well,  our  Saviour  begins  the  conversa- 
tion. He  has  already,  do  you  not  see,  gained 
her  interested  attention.  Her  mind  is  open  now 
and  ready  to  respond  to  anything  this  stranger 
has  to  say.  If  only  now  he  may  get  her  to 
think ! 

The  divine  Teacher's  experience  is  repeated 
in  that  of  His  followers.  The  story  of  the  gos- 
pel comes  ever  to  minds  that  are  heavy,  and 
eyes  that  are  closed.  The  song  of  the  angels 
resounded  over  a  sleeping  world.  The  world  is 
wide-awake  to  every  earthly  interest.  The 
great,  obtrusive  and  crowding  life  around  us 
forbids  our  slumber.  But  in  spiritual  things 
men  sleep.  To  these  higher  things  they  need 
to  be  awaked.  To  rouse  their  sluggish  energies, 
and  to  gain  the  eager  attention  of  our  fellow- 
men,  is  one  of  the  most  trying  duties  of  those 
who  w^ould  lead  men  to  the  Saviour.  There  is, 
indeed,  but  one  more  difficult  than  this;  that  is, 

n.     The  Awakening  of  Reflection 

To  secure  attention  to  the  subject  of  religion, 
in  any  aspect  of  it,  is  no  easy  matter.  To  in- 
duce reflection  and  inquiry  on  the  subject  of 
personal  religion  is  vastly  more  difficult.  There 


THE   AWAKENING    OF    A    SOUL  31 

is,  indeed,  no  little  consideration  of  it  in  a 
vague,  transient,  and  resultless  way ;  but  to  get 
men  to  think  seriously  and  to  any  purpose  about 
their  spiritual  and  eternal  welfare  is  well-nigh 
impossible.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  our 
Saviour  awakens  this  woman  to  thoughtfulness 
by  putting  a  new  meaning  into  an  old  word. 

So  Christianity  did  for  the  Greek  language  in 
the  days  of  its  early  triumphs.  It  poured  into 
its  weightiest  words  a  profounder  meaning  than 
they  are  found  to  possess  in  classic  literature. 
So  the  Christian  religion  is  doing  to-day  in  her 
vitalizing  work  in  mission  lands,  regenerating 
not  alone  the  hearts  of  lost  men,  but  their 
tongues  as  well — pouring  into  the  decaying  lit- 
eratures of  the  world  the  sweet,  and  high  and 
holy  ideas  of  our  heaven-born  faith. 

Thus  did  the  Lord  stir  this  woman's  mind  to 
thoughtfulness  and  inquiry.  She  might  have 
gotten  good,  sweet  water  at  some  of  the  many 
fountains  nearer  the  city  of  Sychar.  But  she 
came  to  Jacob's  well,  possibly  because  of  its 
superior  water,  or  probably  on  account  of  its 
historic  associations,  or  more  likely  to  get  away 
from  the  tumult  of  the  town  and  all  the  scenes 
and  associations  of  her  sinful  life.  At  any  rate, 
whatever  the  motive,  she  came  for  this  water. 
And  here  is  a  man  who  talks  of  "living  water'^ 


32  NEW    SHAFTS    IN   THE   OLD    MINE 

better  than  this  of  the  well!  What  does  He 
mean?  The  Lord  has  gained  another  point! 
Not  only  is  the  woman's  attention  arrested,  but 
she  begins  now  to  think!  She  questions!  She 
doubts!  And  these  are  antecedent  steps  to  any 
fruitful  progress.  Doubting  and  inquiry  are 
wrong  only  when  one  lingers  in  doubt,  and 
loves  uncertainty!  Let  us  observe  now  the 
process  of  her  thought. 

First,  she  begins  about  the  person.  ''WHio 
are  You,  that  You  should  make  such  claims? 
Are  You  greater  than  our  father  Jacob?"  Her 
pride  of  race  immediately  comes  to  the  front. 
Jacob  was  only  the  woman's  stepfather,  and  two 
thousand  years  removed  at  that.  But  she  is 
quite  disposed  to  make  a  good  deal  of  the  fact 
that  she  had  such  a  notable  man  for  an  ancestor. 
Many  are  like  her!  Their  characters  and  lives 
are  such  as  will  not  bear  investigation;  but  they 
are  quick,  especially  when  driven  to  bay  by  a 
faithful  friend  or  an  accusing  conscience,  to  take 
refuge  in  the  piety  of  their  forefathers. 

Second,  her  unspiritual  and  groveling  con- 
ceptions of  truth  must  be  noticed.  She  could 
not  for  a  moment  think  this  Jewish  stranger 
meant  anvthino-  but  literal  water.  And  vet 
figures  and  symbols  were  not  strange  to  the 
oriental   mind.     But   so    Nicodemus,    a   ruler   of 


THE   AWAKENING    OF   A    SOUL  33 

the  Jews,  and  councilor  of  the  great  synagogue, 
blundered  in  a  far  plainer  matter,  "How  can  a 
man  be  born  when  he  is  old?"  So,  everywhere 
and  always,  is  it  true,  as  the  Scripture  saith, 
"The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God :  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him; 
and  he  cannot  know  them,  because  they  are 
spiritually  judged." 

Third,  the  mixture  of  motives  by  which  the 
woman  was  actuated  deserves  consideration. 
Some  faint  and  fluctuating  desires  of  her  heart 
are  here  disclosed.  Some  feeble  upreachings  of 
the  soul  emerge  from  the  abyss  of  sensualism  in 
which  her  nature  had  been  submerged.  But  her 
low  aim  in  seeking  a  high  end  is  plainly  seen  in 
her  words,  "Sir,  give  me  this  water  (not  that  I 
may  have  everlasting  life,  as  her  Lord  had  said, 
but),  that  I  thirst  not,  neither  come  all  the  way 
hither  to  draw."  Oh,  the  pity  of  it!  With  a  spirit 
perishing  with  thirst,  and  dimly  conscious  of  the 
fact,  the  boundaries  of  her  desires  are  relief  from 
the  drudgery  of  drawing  water  from  Jacob's  well ! 

Her  course  is  often  repeated  by  men  begin- 
ning to  think  of  spiritual  things  and  the  welfare 
of  their  immortal  souls.  Sometimes  they  are 
influenced  by  the  fear  of  the  wrath  and  curse  of 
God ;  sometimes  by  the  temporal  advantages  at- 
tending  a    Christian    course;    sometimes   by   the 


34  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

moral  beauty  of  the  Christian  virtues  as  exem- 
pHfied  in  the  Hves  of  beUeving  friends;  and 
underneath  it  all  a  vague  but  powerful  sense  of 
unrest  and  longing,  which  at  last  rises  above  all 
other  considerations  and  constrains  the  heart  to 
cry  out  for  God. 

The  woman  is  thinking  now!  No  longer 
careless  and  indifferent,  bent  on  the  gratification 
of  a  bodily  appetite  and  minded  to  return  to  the 
groveling  life  from  which  she  had  come,  she  is 
just  entering  upon  an  unwonted  line  of  serious 
thought.  Every  power  and  faculty  of  her  na- 
ture is  now  awake  and  intensely  active!  Every 
one,  do  I  say  ?  Alas !  no ;  there  is  one  exception. 
And  so  we  come  to  the  next  step,  viz. : — 

III.     The  Awakening  of  Conscience 

The  woman  did  not  understand  the  ''living 
water,"  because  she  had  no  thirst — no  clear  and 
dominating  sense  of  sin  and  need.  The  Lord 
had  given  her  spiritual  food;  He  must  now  give 
her  a  spiritual  appetite.  How  will  He  do  it? 
How  will  He  quicken  this  slumbering  con- 
science? 

Observe  the  simple  and  natural  transition  in 
the  Lord's  conduct  of  the  conversation,  "Go, 
call  thy  husband,  and  come  hither."     As  much 


THE    AWAKENING    OF    A    SOUL  35 

as  to  say,  "If  you  are  earnest  and  sincere  in  ask- 
ing this  gift,  you  will  surely  wish  to  hav^e  your 
husband  share  in  the  blessing."  The  Lord 
knew  who  this  woman  was.  But  there  is  no 
rebuke  and  denunciation  of  her  sinful  life ;  infinite 
gentleness  in  faithfulness  marks  His  course. 
With  an  inimitable  touch  our  Lord  opens  a  lit- 
tle window  in  the  fading  memory  of  this  sinful 
woman,  through  which  she  glances  upon  the  past 
of  her  career.  Far  yonder  on  life's  threshold  she 
sees  herself  a  happy  bride  before  the  altar  stand- 
ing for  the  priestly  benediction  with  the  man  of 
her  choice  and  love.  My  husband!  Ah!  What 
was  I  then?  An  honored  bride  crowned  with 
the  blessing  of  a  holy  wedded  love  !  What  am  I 
now  ?  Ah !  How  miserable  I  am !  An  abandoned 
woman  of  the  town ! 

That  slumbering  conscience  starts  into  in- 
tensest  activity  in  view  of  these  contrasted  pic- 
tures, and  begins  to  upbraid  the  now  con- 
sciously guilty  soul.  But  she  is  not  willing  yet 
to  bow  before  its  power.  And  so  she  changes 
the  subject.  "Sir,  I  perceive  that  thou  art 
a  prophet.  Our  fathers  worshiped  in  this 
mountain;  and  ye  say,  that  in  Jerusalem  is  the 
place  where  men  ought  to  worship."  With 
such  an  opportunity  to  obtain  an  authoritative 
settlement  of  the  vexed  question  of  the  place  of 


36  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

worship,  she  is  suddenly  interested  in  its  final 
determination. 

What  was  the  woman's  object  in  thus  seeking- 
to  change  the  subject  of  their  conversation? 
There  are  two  explanations  of  her  purpose, 
which  yet  may  coalesce  into  one : — 

First,  she  would  turn  away  from  the  consider- 
ation of  personal  to  public  religion.  To  her 
awakened  conscience  the  conversation  was  get- 
ting altogether  too  close  and  personal.  She 
vvould  still  the  voice  of  the  monitor  within,  not 
by  abandoning  the  subject  of  religion  entirely, 
but  by  turning  to  some  more  general  aspect  of 
it.  And  what  more  pressing  and  important 
than  the  proper  place  in  which  to  worship  God.^ 
This  is  a  common  evasion  of  personal  duty; 
and  the  w^oman  has  many  followers  even  in 
modern  times  in  this  respect.  Many  people 
there  are  who  are  quite  ready  to  spend  hours  in 
the  discussion  of  church  questions,  w'ho  cannot 
spare  five  minutes  for  an  earnest  heart-talk  on 
the  subject  of  personal  religion.  Not  now,  but 
some  day,  when  they  have  more  time,  they  will 
hear. 

Second,  she  finds  here  a  real  dif^culty. 
When,  under  the  stirrings  of  conscience,  she 
begins  to  think  about  her  spiritual  state,  there 
comes  up  the   old   trouble   about   the   place   of 


THE   AWAKENING    OF   A    SOUL  yj 

worship:  what  shall  be  done  about  it?  I  will  ask 
this  stranger-prophet — is  her  thought — to  settle 
the  perplexity.  The  settlement  of  that  question 
was  not  essential;  but  to  the  woman  it  became  a 
stumbling-block. 

So,  in  our  day,  many  are  perplexed  about 
questions  which,  however  important,  are  not 
essential  to  salvation.  Their  difficulties  arise, 
not  while  they  are  perfectly  careless  and  uncon- 
cerned. They  emerge  when  they  begin  to  think 
seriously  on  the  subject  of  personal  religion. 
The  first  and  great  effort  of  the  enemy  of  souls 
is  to  prevent  men  from  thinking  of  their  salva- 
tion. So  long  as  they  are  careless  about  this  he 
is  not  likely  to  trouble  them  with  anything  else. 
But  so  surely  as  they  get  interested,  and  begin 
to  think  of  their  spiritual  state,  their  relations 
to  Christ,  and  their  eternal  destiny;  and  he  finds 
they  are  determined  to  think  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  he  will  shove  in  some  important  but  not 
just  now  essential  topic,  such  as  the  doctrine  of 
election,  or  the  proper  mode  of  baptism,  and  will 
say  to  them,  "There,  if  you  must  think  about 
spiritual  things,  give  your  attention  to  these 
questions."  Alas,  too  many  fall  into  the  snare ; 
and,  deluding  themselves  with  the  idea  that  they 
are  religiously  thoughtful,  while  they  are  simply 
beaten  about  by  the  perplexities  of  non- 
4 


38  NEW    SHAFTS    L\    THE   OLD    MINE 

essential  questions,  they  leave  still  unde- 
termined the  great  and  solemn  question  of  their 
acceptance  of  Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour ! 

The  whole  spiritual  nature  of  this  woman  of 
Samaria  is  now  thoroughly  aroused;  and  every 
moment  she  is  advancing.  At  first,  she  seems 
anxious  to  evade  the  question  of  her  personal 
spiritual  condition,  and  so  flies  from  her  perse- 
cutor, and  seeks  to  occupy  his  attention  with  a 
more  public  concern.  Then,  as  her  conscience 
wakes  up  and  she  begins  to  realize  her  sin  and 
need  of  some  way  of  getting  back  to  God,  she 
begins  to  be  really  perplexed  about  the  proper 
place  in  which  to  draw  nigh  to  Him. 

The  Ixtrd  does  not  charge  her  with  evasion,  nor 
does  He  seek  to  bring  her  back  to  the  point  of  the 
conversation,  which  she  seems  anxious  to  escape. 
On  the  contrary.  He  follows  her  up;  and 
answering  her  question,  brings  out  three  solemn 
truths,  as  important  now  as  then — to  us  as  to 
her. 

First,  many  things,  now  seemingly  important, 
will  soon  pass  away.  "You  are  troubling  yourself 
about  the  place  of  worship,  as  if  it  were  the  most 
vital  of  all  concernments.  But  the  whole  ques- 
tion will  soon  pass  away;  and  you  will  wonder 
that  it  could  ever  have  had  so  important  a  place  in 
your  mind.    Woman,  believe  Me,  the  hour  cometh. 


THE   AWAKENING   OF   A    SOUL  39 

when  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  in  Jerusalem, 
shall  ye  worship  the  Father." 

Second,  ''salvation  is  from  the  Jews."  We 
shall  greatly  misinterpret  our  Lord's  words  if  we 
shall  believe  them  to  be  the  mere  triumphing  of  a 
Jew  over  his  traditional  enemy.  Rather  are  His 
words  the  solemn  setting  forth  of  the  great  truth, 
as  applicable  to  us  as  to  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
that  salvation  "is  not  a  thing  to  be  reached  by 
any  one  who  may  vaguely  desire  it  of  a  God  of 
mercy,  but  something  that  has  been  prepared  and 
revealed"  in  a  particular  way,  and  to  be  received 
just  as  it  is  offered. 

Third,  the  spirit  of  worship  is  more  than  the 
form.  ''The  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the 
true  worshipers  shall  v/orship  the  Father  in  spirit 
and  truth  :  for  such  doth  the  Father  seek  to  be  His 
worshipers.  God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  wor- 
ship Him  must  worship  in  spirit  and  truth."  And 
this  is  ever  true. 

These  three  were,  as  they  still  are,  most  search- 
ing truths.  And  as  the  woman  heard  and  pon- 
dered her  Saviour's  solemn  words,  her  conscience, 
now  thoroughly  aroused,  must  have  been  putting 
the  question  home — Do  I  so  worship  the  Father  ? 
And  she  must  have  said  to  herself,  "Have  I  not 
utterly  failed  in  all  true  and  real  spiritual  worship, 
while  I  have  been  lost  in  petty  squabbles  with  these 


40  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

Jews  as  to  the  place,  attitude  and  material  func- 
tions  of  a  formal  approach  to  the  mighty  God  ?" 

Thus  the  tender  and  gracious  Lord  led  her  to 
feel  her  sin  and  her  need  of  a  Saviour.  And  so 
we  come  to  the  last  step,  viz. : — 


IV.     The  Awakening  of  Faith 

We  must  not  be  deceived  by  the  serenity  of  the 
narrative.  We  are  in  danger  of  it.  Just  so  are 
we  liable  to  overlook  the  intense  earnestness  and 
directness  of  the  short  petitions  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  because  of  the  ineffable  calm  which  per- 
vades the  entire  prayer.  An  intense  and  mighty 
revolution  is  in  progress  in  this  woman's  mind — - 
that  greatest  moral  revolution  this  world  can  ever 
witness,  the  mighty  and  effectual  turning  of  a 
dead  soul  to  life! 

She  came  to  the  well  careless,  indifferent,  and 
"dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  The  Lord's  w^ords 
were  searching  and  troubling  her.  They  had 
pierced  the  surface  of  that  pleasure-seeking  life, 
and  had  revealed  to  her  the  sense  of  unrest. 
Perhaps  she  realized  now,  as  not  before,  why  she 
came  away  from  the  city  and  its  sins  and  sorrows. 
It  was  the  ordering  of  a  wise,  holy,  and  tender 
providence  that   she  should  here  cross  the  path 


THE   AWAKENING   OF    A    SOUL  41 

of  the  Saviour,  Son  of  God.  But  in  her  conscious- 
ness it  was  an  overpowering  desire  to  get  away, 
and  be  alone. 

There  are  many  tired  places  in  every  careless 
and  sinful  life.  Oh,  for  skill  to  find  them  out, 
and  to  apply  the  only  balm  that  can  rest,  and  heal, 
and  save! 

The  Saviour's  kind  and  faithful  words  pene- 
trated the  armor  of  vice  and  formalism  in  which 
this  woman  had  encased  herself,  and  brought  to 
the  surface  her  soul's  longing  for  peace.  She 
could  not  escape  from  Him,  and  she  was  sorely 
troubled.  Convicted  of  her  sins,  and  perplexed 
about  the  place  of  worship,  she  flies  to  the  refuge — 
"I  know  that  Messiah  cometh  (He  that  is  called 
Christ)  :  when  He  is  come,  He  will  declare  unto 
us  all  things."  And  this  was  true !  Mistaken  as 
to  many  things,  the  woman  was  right  about  this 
one  thing.  It  is  still  and  ever  a  glorious  truth, 
that  when  once  the  Saviour  comes,  and  finds  us, 
and  teaches  us,  all  our  difficulties  will  then  vanish 
away! 

What  a  world  of  meaning  in  her  words,  that 
does  not  come  to  the  surface  in  a  superficial  read- 
ing !  A  thousand  times  I  have  tried,  and  in  vain, 
to  read  her  words,  putting  into  them  all  that  I  be- 
lieve she  meant  by  them.  She  seems  to  me  to 
say,  'T  have  put  religion  away  from  my  life,  or 


42  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD   MINE 

have  made  it  only  a  form,  and  largely  an  unholy 
and  unsanctifying  dispute  as  to  the  place  of  wor- 
ship. But  I  see  it  differently  now,  as  this 
stranger's  words  come  to  my  heart.  Yet  I  feel 
that  these  things  are  too  high  for  me.  I  cannot 
understand  them.  I  am  an  ignorant  and  blinded 
woman.  I  need  a  teacher.  And  such  is  prom- 
ised !  Our  prophets  all  foretell  the  coming  Prince 
of  Peace!  When  will  He  come?  Oh,  that  He 
might  come  in  my  day !  I  am  a  poor,  guilty,  lost 
soul !  If  He  does  not  soon  appear,  I  shall  be  for- 
ever undone!  Defiled  by  sin,  and  justly  con- 
demned by  my  own  conscience  and  God's  law,  I 
sink  beneath  the  weaves  !  But  if  the  Messiah  comes, 
all  will  yet  be  well.  Oh,  that  the  blessed  Christ 
would  at  this  moment  come!" 

And  immediately  to  the  penitent  soul,  thus  truly 
awakened  to  the  attitude  and  expression  of  faith, 
there  came  the  instantaneous  and  glorious  revela- 
tion— '*I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  He!" 

Such  was  the  blessed  result  of  this  memorable 
interview  at  the  well-curb.  The  woman,  who  was 
*'a  sinner"  of  Samaria,  with  attention  arrested, 
and  thoughtfulness  stimulated,  and  conscience 
aroused,  and  faith  quickened,  awakes  from  the 
sleep  of  death!  She  enters  into  life,  rejoicing  in 
the  rest  and  peace  of  a  new-found  Redeemer! 
Let  us  note,  in  closing,  the  striking  evidences 


THE   AWAKENING   OF   A    SOUL  43 

her  conduct  affords  of  the  radical  change  her 
soul  had  undergone  in  the  great  awakening. 

1.  She  straightway  left  her  waterpot  and  re- 
turned to  the  city.  She  had  come  for  water ;  she 
wanted  it  no  more.  Others  may  drink  of  Jacob's 
well  who  wish ;  she  will  henceforth  quaff  the  water 
of  life.  The  desires  and  aims  of  the  renewed 
soul  are  entirely  changed. 

2.  She  becomes  a  messenger  of  life  to  her 
neighbors  and  friends.  No  tarrying  to  ask  her- 
self the  question,  ''Will  they  listen  to  anything  a 
woman  like  me  will  say?"  She  realizes  only  one 
thing,  "I  am  saved ;  I  must  have  others  saved  as 
well." 

3.  She  carried  to  them  a  strange  yet  true 
message — ''Come,  see  a  man,  who  told  me  all 
things  that  ever  I  did !"  In  any  literal  sense,  of 
course,  this  was  far  from  true.  Yet  to  the 
woman's  consciousness  it  was  only  too  inadequate 
a  statement  of  what  had  taken  place.  She  had 
entered  into  a  new  world.  She  saw  everything 
with  new  eyes.  The  Lord  had  told  her  but  a  few 
things;  but  it  seemed  to  her  as  if  He  had  un- 
covered all  her  past,  illuminated  the  present,  and 
unveiled  the  future.  In  her  the  Scripture  was 
fulfilled — "If  any  man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new 
creature  :  old  things  are  passed  away ;  behold,  they 
are  become  new." 


CHILDREN  OF  GOD 


CHILDREN  OF  GOD 


Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed' 
upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  children  of  God ;  and  such 
we  are.  For  this  cause  the  world  knoweth  us  not,  because 
it  knew  Him  not.  Beloved,  now  are  we  children  of  God, 
and  it  is  not  yet  made  manifest  what  we  shall  be.  We  know 
that,  if  He  shall  be  manifested,  we  shall  be  like  Him;  for 
we  shall  see  Him  even  as  He  is.  And  every  one  that  hath 
this  hope  set  on  Him  purifieth  himself,  even  as  He  is  pure. 
— I  John  iii :  1-3. 


A  common  practice  among  men  is  that  of  giving- 
good  names  to  bad  things.  A  dishonest  business 
transaction,  for  example,  is  not  called  stealing,  as 
it  ought  to  be;  it  is  *'an  irregularity."  Lottery 
schemes  are  dignified  with  the  name  of  ''Gift  En- 
terprises;" the  ostensible  meaning  of  which  is  that 
they  present  you  with  some  valuable  gift,  but,  in 
point  of  fact,  it  signifies  that  you  give  away  your 
money  to  them.  By  this  and  such  like  ingenious 
''jugglery  of  words,"  we  disguise  even  to  our- 
selves the  real  and  repulsive  character  of  ways 
and  doings  of  which  in  our  hearts  and  consciences 
we  are  ashamed.  And  thus  it  comes  about  that  it 
by  no  means  follows,  because  we  call  a  thing  so- 
and  so.  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  so  and  so. 

47 


48  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

Differing-  from  this  practice  of  the  sinful  heart, 
and  utterly  contrary  to  it,  as  the  Bible  everywhere 
makes  plain,  what  God  calls  a  thing,  that  it  is. 
The  name  and  nature  are  the  same.  The  Lord 
told  Zacharias  that  his  son's  name  should  be  John ; 
and  a  John  indeed  he  was — ''the  gift  of  God." 
The  Messiah  was  "Jesus."  by  name  and  nature, 
too.  He  was  both  to  be,  and  to  be  called,  "the 
Saviour  of  His  people  from  their  sins."  With 
God  names  are  things. 

To  be  "called  children  of  God,"  therefore,  as  in 
the  text,  means  to  be  "made  children  of  God" — 
to  be  adopted  into  this  divine  household.  "Be- 
hold what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  be- 
stowed upon  us.  that  we  should  be  called  children 
of  God,"  and,  by  a  gracious  and  sublime  adoption, 
become  the  happy  sons  and  daughters  of  His  love 
and  likeness!  This,  then,  is  the  first  thing  worthy 
of  notice  in  this  passage,  viz. : — 

I.  The  Nature  of  this  Divine  Sonship 

How  do  we  become  God's  children?  We  de- 
scribe the  process  in  different  ways,  and  in  the 
use  of  old  and  familiar  terms,  such  as  regenera- 
tion, justification,  and  repentance  unto  life. 
Adoption  is  only  another  aspect  of  the  same  com- 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  49 

plex  process.  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge  says,  ''It  presents 
the  new  creature  in  his  new  relations;  his  new 
relations  entered  upon  with  a  congenial  heart,  and 
his  new  life  developing  in  a  congenial  home,  and 
surrounded  with  those  circumstances  which  foster 
its  growth  and  crown  it  with  blessedness."  "This 
adoption,"  says  the  Catechism,  ''is  an  act  of  God's 
free  grace,  whereby  we  are  received  into  the  num- 
ber, and  have  a  right  to  all  the  privileges,  of  the 
sons  of  God." 

But  the  definition  does  not  enter  into  detail; 
and  we  may,  perhaps,  get  the  clearest  idea  of  this 
divine  adoption  by  looking  upon  its  human 
counterpart.  Old  John  Flavel  thus  quaintly 
states  the  relation :  ''Betwixt  civil  and  sacred 
adoption  there  is  a  twofold  agreement  and  dis- 
agreement. They  agree  in  this,  that  both  flow 
from  the  pleasure  and  good  will  of  the  adoptant; 
and  in  this,  that  both  confer  a  privilege  which  we 
have  not  by  nature.  But  in  this  they  differ :  one 
is  an  act  imitating  nature,  the  other  transcends 
nature;  the  one  was  found  out  for  the  comfort 
of  them  that  had  no  children,  the  other  for  the 
comfort  of  them  that  had  no  father." 

What,  then,  are  the  elements  of  that  process  by 
which  you  adopt,  as  your  own,  the  child  of  an- 
other.    They  are  four,  viz. : — 

I.  You  give  him  your  name.     Under  the  sol- 


oo  NEW    SHAFTS    IN   THE   OLD    MINE 

emn  sanctions  of  law  he  lays  aside  forever  the 
name  by  which  he  has  been  known  and  hence- 
forth, by  your  permission  and  direction,  is  called 
by  the  name  you  bear. 

2.  You  accord  to  him  of  right  a  place  in  your 
home.  He  may  have  been  a  homeless  beggar  on 
the  street,  or  an  orphan  waif  from  the  asylum. 
But  now  you  take  him  into  your  own  house ;  and 
his  place  there  is  no  longer  that  of  either  a 
stranger  or  a  servant.  Wherever  in  that  home 
your  own  children  may  go,  and  whatever  do,  so 
also  may  he.     His  is  the  place  of  a  child. 

3.  You  bind  yourself  to  give  him  the  care  and 
training  of  a  child.  You  give  him  food  and 
raiment  and  the  instruction  and  discipline  which 
are  best  for  him.  Your  ability  may  limit  your 
action,  as  to  the  first,  and  your  judgment  may  err 
in  the  second.  But  you  never  deliberately  plan 
and  provide  for  the  disadvantage  of  your  children. 
Nor  will  you  for  the  child  of  your  adoption. 

4.  You  make  him  your  heir.  He  bears  your 
name,  has  shared  your  home,  and  carries  the  im- 
press of  your  teaching,  and  finally  enters  upon 
the  inheritance  of  your  estate. 

These  four  things  characterize  also  the  divine 
adoption  of  the  text.  God  puts  upon  us  His  own 
name.  He  admits  us  into  the  household  of  faith. 
He  binds  Himself  always  to  provide  for  us  the 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  51 

sustenance  temporal  and  spiritual  which  is  needful, 
and  the  training  which  is  best.  And  He  invests 
us  with  the  heirship  of  all  His  possessions. 

But,  besides  these  four,  there  is  one  other 
peculiar  and  crowning  element  of  the  heavenly 
adoption,  of  which  the  earthly  furnishes  no  coun- 
terpart. I  mean  the  derivation  of  nature  from 
the  adopting  Father.  You  may  give  your  adopted 
son  your  name,  home,  training,  and  fortune;  but 
your  nature  and  character  you  cannot  impart. 
These  he  derives  from  another  source.  And  they 
largely  make  the  man.  "Blood  will  tell,"  they 
say,  and  they  say  well.  Certainly  inherited  tastes 
and  family  peculiarities  may  baffle  and  thwart  all 
your  efforts  to  mold  the  child  of  your  adoption 
into  the  character  of  your  own  spirit.  But  when 
God  adopts  us  into  His  family  He  makes  us  ''par- 
takers of  the  divine  nature."  He  gives  us  "the 
right  to  become  children  of  God"  by  being  born, 
"not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

This  is  the  nature  of  this  divine  sonship  with 
which  the  beloved  disciple  here  arrests  our  atten- 
tion. It  is  no  figment  of  the  fancy,  but  abundantly 
set  forth  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  We  find  it  in 
the  eternal  purpose — "Even  as  He  chose  us  in 
Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we 
should  be  holy  and  without  blemish  before  Him  in 


52  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

love :  having  foreordained  us  unto  adoption  as 
sons  through  Jesus  Christ  unto  Himself,  accord- 
ing to  the  good  pleasure  of  His  will,  to  the  praise 
of  the  glory  of  His  grace,  which  He  freely  be- 
stowed on  us  in  the  Beloved."  We  find  it  in  the 
accomplishment  of  redemption — *'When  the  full- 
ness of  the  time  came,  God  sent  forth  His  Son, 
born  of  a  woman,  born  under  the  law,  that  He 
might  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that 
we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons.  And  be- 
cause ye  are  sons,  God  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of 
His  Son  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father. 
So  that  thou  art  no  longer  a  bondservant,  but  a 
son;  and  if  a  son,  then  an  heir  through  God."  We 
find  it  also  in  the  experience  of  the  believer  :  ''Ye 
received  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry, 
Abba,  Father.  The  Spirit  Himself  beareth  wit- 
ness wnth  our  spirit,  that  we  are  children  of  God : 
and  if  children,  then  heirs ;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint- 
heirs  with  Christ;  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with 
Him,  that  we  may  be  also  glorified  with  Him."  So 
also  in  the  text :  ''Behold  what  manner  of  love  the 
Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be 
called  children  of  God." 

But,  as  you  see,  the  nature  of  adoption  is  not 
the  main  thought  of  this  passage.  Another  view 
of  the  great  subject  calls  forth  the  apostle's  ad- 
miration.   That  is,  viz.: — 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  53 


11.     The  Grace  of  this  Divine  Sonship 

"Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath 
bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  chil- 
dren of  God !"  That  He  should  set  His  love  upon 
us,  all  so  unworthy — this  is  the  marvel  and  grace 
of  this  divine  sonship !  This  excites  John's  won- 
der ;  and  it  may  well  awaken  ours,  dear  friends ! 

Go  with  that  bereaved  and  childless  woman  to 
the  orphan  asylum  and  watch  the  opening  steps 
as  she  seeks  to  replace,  in  some  faint  measure,  her 
great  loss,  and  to  find  among  those  poor  lone  waifs 
some  object  on  which  to  pour  her  wasting  love. 
Do  you  not  see  that  some  beauty  of  face  or  form, 
some  color  of  hair  or  eyes,  some  likeness  of  feature 
or  disposition  to  the  loved  and  lost,  that  these  are 
the  secret  springs  of  her  choice  as  she  folds  the 
motherless  bairnie  to  her  bosom  and,  with  tears 
of  memory,  comfort  and  hope,  takes  it  henceforth 
to  her  own  home  ? 

Then  come  with  me  to  the  brow  of  that  hill 
which  slopes  away  into  the  valley  of  EJah,  and  see 
the  crown-prince,  Jonathan,  setting  his  love  upon 
the  youthful  David.  How  noble  is  the  son  of 
Saul,  who  crowns  the  acclamations  of  the  people 
b}^  doffing  his  own  royal  robe  to  put  it  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  champion  of  Israel !     How  brave 


54  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    INHNE 

and  true  tlie  love  that  instinctively  knits  him  to 
the  unknown  warrior !  But  how  noble  also  was 
the  shepherd  of  Bethlehem !  How  modest,  un- 
assuming, and  unconscious  of  the  splendor  of  his 
victory!  He  was  worthy  the  love  of  even  Jona- 
than. 

Yet  again,  come  with  me  to  the  fields  of  Bethle- 
hem and  to  the  times  that  were  primitive,  even 
in  David's  day.  There  goes  the  w^ise,  good  mas- 
ter of  the  farm,  the  pious  Boaz.  His  eyes  alight 
upon  the  sun-browned,  widowed  gleaner  from  the 
hills  of  Moab.  Wherefore  the  unwonted  tender- 
ness of  his  address  and  the  voluntary  grant  of 
unusual  privileges  in  the  gleaning  of  his  fields? 
And  why  the  aside  direction  to  his  workingmen, 
''Let  her  glean  even  among  the  sheaves,  and  re- 
proach her  not.  And  also  pull  out  some  for  her 
from  the  bundles,  and  leave  it,  and  let  her  glean, 
and  rebuke  her  not"?  What  is  it  that  troubles 
Boaz  ?  Do  you  not  know  ?  It  is  plainly  a  case  of 
love  at  first  sight.  The  great,  rich,  and  honorable 
Boaz  has  set  his  love  upon  the  lorn  and  portionless 
Ruth.  But  Ruth  was  worthy  of  even  his  love.  Hers 
was,  indeed,  an  alien  people,  but  not  an  alien  faith. 

Do  you  not  see,  dear  friends,  that  all  these  are 
examples  of  setting  and  centering  the  love  upon 
the  lovely?  But  "behold  what  manner  of  love 
the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,"  the  unworthy 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  55 

and  unlovely!  Can  we  find  any  illustration  that 
shall  even  distantly  approach  this?  Look  at 
David's  love  for  Absalom.  Ah,  what  hopes  he 
had  in  his  name,  "the  father's  peace"  !  Tired  of 
war  and  commotion  in  Israel,  this  son,  thought 
David,  shall  bring  peace.  So  Lamech,  you  re- 
member, thought  Noah  was  the  harbinger  of  rest. 
You  know  how  both  were  bitterly  disappointed. 
And  you  remember  how  David's  heart  went  out 
for  Absalom.  It  was,  indeed,  a  setting  of  love  upon 
the  unlovely  and  the  unworthy.  But  all  of  David's 
love  could  not  make  the  wayward,  rebel  prince 
worthy  his  high  destiny.  Yet  this  is  the  wondrous, 
gracious  end  of  God's  adopting  love,  "that  we 
should  be  called  children  of  God."  Marvelous 
grace!  We  do  not  wonder  that  a  convert  from 
heathenism,  translating  the  words,  "To  them  gave 
He  the  right  to  become  children  of  God,"  should 
suddenly  lay  down  his  pen  to  cry  out,  "It  is  too 
much !  Let  me  rather  translate  it,  'They  shall  be 
permitted  to  kiss  His  feet!'"  It  is  too  much! 
That  we  should  be  permitted  to  become  children 
of  God !  At  such  cost  and  sacrifice  shall  we  be 
gifted  with  this  nature  and  this  destiny?  What 
wondrous  grace  is  this!  And  what  shall  be  the 
end  of  all  such  amazing  love? 

Most  natural,  then,  is  the  apostle's  transition 
to  another  topic,  viz. : — 


5.6  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

III.     The  Destiny  of  this  Divine  Sonship 

''Beloved,  now  are  we  children  of  God,  and 
it  is  not  yet  made  manifest  what  we  shall  be.  We 
know  that,  if  He  shall  be  manifested,  we  shall  be 
like  Him;  for  we  shall  see  Him  even  as  He  is.'' 
We  have  some  little  conception  of  the  privileges 
given  to  us  for  the  present ;  but  what  the  future 
has  in  store  for  us,  who  can  tell  ?  There  are  to  be 
found  the  ''things  which  eye  saw  not,  and  ear 
heard  not.  And  which  entered  not  into  the  heart 
of  man,  W^hatsoever  things  God  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him." 

Near  the  beginning  of  the  second  quarter  of  the 
last  century,  Jeremiah  Jones  Colbath,  with  the 
permission  of  the  Legislature,  exchanged  his  own 
name  for  that  of  his  benefactor ;  and  a  half  century 
later  the  nation  buried  him  in  the  person  of  her 
poor  but  pure  Vice-President.  Jeremiah  Jones 
Colbath  was  the  cobbler  of  Natick;  but  Henry 
Wilson  was  a  ruler  among  millions,  and  was  sec- 
ond to  but  one  in  the  land.  Who  that  witnessed 
the  adoption  of  the  new  name  could  have  fore- 
seen the  honorable  place  of  its  future  inscription ! 
Possibly  some  who  knew  the  obscure  young  shoe- 
maker could  have  predicted  for  him  a  famous 
career.     For,  certain  elements  being  known,  it  is 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  57 

possible  to  forecast  with  tolerable  accuracy  an 
earthly  destiny.  The  vaulting  ambition  and  mili- 
tary knowledge  and  magnetic  power  of  the  young 
Corsican  foreshadowed  an  imperial  crown  for  the 
great  Napoleon.  The  colossal  fortune  of  Andrew 
Carnegie  lay,  in  embryo,  in  the  qualities  and 
habits  of  the  shrewd  and  watchful,  bold  and 
cautious,  "canny"  Scotchman.  But  who,  save  by 
a  happy  guess,  could  have  predicted  the  future  of 
these  two  men  ? 

All  prophecies  of  an  earthly  future  must  fail, 
for  the  elements  may  change  or  lose  their  power 
to  direct  the  chariot  of  life.  Who,  then,  shall 
cast  the  horoscope  of  the  children  of  God?  "It 
is  not  yet  made  manifest  what  we  shall  be."  True, 
indeed,  there  are  no  uncertainties  in  this  case. 
Combine,  therefore,  the  most  commanding  powers, 
and  ascribe  to  them  a  uniformly  elevating  ten- 
dency, and  we  may  well  ask,  "Where  shall  the 
end  be?"  But  what  that  end  shall  be,  who  can 
tell? 

Does  the  Bible,  then,  throw  no  light  upon  our 
destiny  as  the  children  of  God?  Only  this — We 
shall  be  like  our  Lord.  "It  is  not  yet  made  mani- 
fest what  we  shall  be.  We  know  that  if  He  shall 
be  manifested,  we  shall  be  like  Him ;  for  we  shall 
see  Him  even  as  He  is."  A  veil,  indeed,  covers  the 
glorious  face  of  our  destiny;  but  this  we  know, 


58  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

and  this  is  all  we  need  to  know,  ''We  shall  be  like 
Him/'  Long  and  wearily  have  we  sought  for 
this ;  and  oftentimes  our  hearts  are  sore  and  faint 
because,  for  all  our  wearisome  endeavors,  we  are 
still  so  unlike  our  gracious,  loving  Lord.  But  the 
blessed  goal  shall  then  have  been  attained.  What- 
ever be  dark  in  our  destiny  this  is  sure — all  traces 
of  the  defiling  and  destroying  monster.  Sin,  wall 
then  have  been  effaced;  and,  waking  in  His  like- 
ness, we  shall  evermore  be  satisfied. 

''We  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him 
even  as  He  is" — not  as  we,  with  faltering  powders 
and  conceptions  all  unw^orthy,  have  tried  to  pic- 
ture Him;  but  "as  He  is" — in  His  own  unclouded 
purity  and  glory.  And  the  beatific  vision  shall 
beautify  and  bless  our  henceforth  pure  and  happy 
spirits.  So  thought  I,  as  once  I  watched  the  sun- 
rise on  Lake  Michigan.  The  morning  was  silent 
and  gray.  The  air  was  misty.  And  the  sky  w^as 
sombre  and  clouded.  But  soon  a  marvelous 
change  came  over  the  face  of  the  world.  The  sun, 
with  beams  of  yellow  and  gold,  burst  through  the 
wasting  clouds  and  scattered  the  mists  of  the 
morning;  and  while  all  the  land,  transformed  by 
the  light,  awoke  to  music  and  song  in  praise  of  the 
Lord  of  life,  it  was  his  mantle  of  purple  and  green 
that  lay  broadcast  in  folds  of  varying  beauty  upon 
the  rippling  waters.     The  earth,  thought  I,  has 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  59 

caught  the  glory  of  the  sun  because  she  sees  him 
as  he  is.  So  shall  it  be  with  us,  dear  friends.  In 
that  matchless  destiny  we  know  but  little  what 
shall  be;  but  this  we  know — ''We  shall  be  like 
Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  even  as  He  is."  Then 
shall  be  fulfilled  that  Scripture  of  seraphic  Paul : 
"We  all,  with  unveiled  face  beholding  as  in  a  mir- 
ror the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  transformed  into 
the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  from 
the  Lord  the  Spirit." 

One  other  thought  claims  our  notice  in  the  ex- 
position of  this  passage,  viz. : — 


IV.     The  Duties  of  this  Divine  Sonship 

In  the  text  these  are  set  forth  as  of  a  twofold 
character,  viz. : — 

I.  Patience — the  cheerful  endurance  of  the 
trials  and  misapprehensions  of  our  lot.  If  we 
are  children  of  God,  we  need  not  expect  the 
unbelieving  world  to  understand  us.  This  is 
John's  thought — ''Behold  what  manner  of  love 
the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we 
should  be  called  children  of  God;  and  such  we 
are.  For  this  cause  the  world  knoweth  us  not, 
because  it  knew  Him  not."  Just  because  we 
are   God's   children,  the  unfilial,   unloving,   un- 


6o  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

believing  world  does  not  understand  us.  But 
shall  we  complain,  when  it  did  not  understand 
God's  well  beloved  Son,  our  blessed  Lord?  Is 
it  not  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his 
Master,  and  the  servant  as  his  Lord?  We  must 
expect  to  be  misunderstood.  The  early  Chris- 
tians were.  To  the  world  about  them  they  were 
a  perverse  and  rebellious  generation.  And  we. 
too,  if  we  are  loyal  to  Christ,  may  expect  to  be 
misapprehended  in  principles,  motives,  and 
conduct. 

You  know  the  restfulness  of  fellowship  with 
one  who  intuitively  understands  us,  to  whom 
we  do  not  need  to  explain — who,  as  if  by  in- 
stinct, divines  our  feelings  and  the  motives,  fre- 
quently intangible  and  indefinable,  by  which  we 
are  governed.  What  a  refuge  is  the  society  of 
such  a  person  from  an  uncomprehending  world ! 
And,  if  it  be  a  husband  or  wife  or  mother  or 
father,  how  it  glorifies  the  home!  But  alas, 
dear  friends,  there  is  no  perfect  realization  of 
this  fellowship  on  earth !  We  should  and  do 
find  it,  measurably,  in  the  communion  of  saints. 
But  only  in  our  Father  above  is  it  perfected. 
He  understands  us  thoroughly.  He  knows  his 
children's  hearts  and  lives.  Let  this,  then, 
suffice  us;  and,  in  the  midst  of  men  who  do  not 
understand   us,    let    us   be   patient.     'Tor   this 


CHILDREN    OF   GOD  6i 

cause  the  world  knoweth  us  not,  because  it  knew 
Him  not." 

2.  Preparation — making  ready  for  the  destiny 
before  us.  *'And  every  one,"  says  John,  ''that 
hath  this  hope  set  on  Him  purifieth  himself, 
even  as  He  is  pure."  Two  thoughts  upon  these 
words  will  fittingly  close  our  examination  of 
this  wonderful  Scripture. 

For  one  thing,  every  person  who  cherishes 
the  hope  that  he  belongs  to  God's  family,  and 
has  received  this  divine  sonship,  will  endeavor 
to  walk  worthily  of  the  calling  wherewith  he 
was  called.  Diligent  and  untiring  will  be  his 
search  for  personal  holiness  and  meetness  for 
his  royal  destiny  as  a  child  of  God.  He  will 
purify  himself,  even  as  his  Lord  is  pure. 

For  another  thing,  there  is  hopefulness  in  the 
endeavor.  We  may  fail  often,  but  not  forever. 
The  process  may  be  slow  and  halting;  but  the 
end  is  sure.  We  shall  get  both  the  meetness 
and  the  destiny.  And  the  joyous  hope  of  soon 
beholding  the  face  of  our  Immanuel  gives  new 
energy  for  all  endeavor.  You  have  seen  the 
household  prepare  for  the  homecoming  of  the 
absent  father  and  head.  The  entire  house  is  set 
in  order.  The  children  are  clad  in  holiday 
attire;  and  climbing  some  the  fence,  while  others 
crowd    the    walk    or    rush    to    the    curb,    their 


62  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

tumultuous  shoutings,  upon  the  first  far  view  of 
the  coming  loved  one,  break  into  the  cadences 
of  a  happy  song, 

Papa  is  coming !     Hurrah  !     Hurrah  ! 
Papa  is  coming  !    Hurrah  ! 

Oh,  the  joy  and  gladness  of  that  happy  day! 
Dear  friends,  suffer  the  question  in  closing:  Is 
such  the  joy  of  your  hearts  as  you  await  the  com- 
ing of  Him  ''who  is  the  glory  of  yon  heaven," 
and  the  life  and  light  of  your  expectant  spirits? 


THE  SCHOOL  OF  GRACE 


THE  SCHOOL  OF  GRACE 

For  the  grace  of  God  hath  appeared,  bringing  salvation 
to  all  men,  instructing  us,  to  the  intent  that,  denying  ungod- 
liness and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly  and  right- 
eously and  godly  in  this  present  world ;  looking  for  the 
blessed  hope  and  appearing  of  the  glory  of  the  great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ;  who  gave  Himself  for  us, 
that  He  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto 
Himself  a  people  for  His  own  possession,  zealous  of  good 
works. — Titus  ii :  11-14. 

The  gospel  binds  together  the  lofty  and  the 
lowly.  Its  highest  and  brightest  visions  are 
vouchsafed  to  men  of  humblest  mind.  In  keep- 
ing with  this  characteristic  of  ''The  Glad  Tid- 
ings," Paul  here  links  together  the  grandest 
doctrines  of  the  scheme  of  salvation  and  the 
faithful  service  of  the  lowliest  believer.  He  is 
giving  Titus  directions  concerning  his  rela- 
tions to  various  classes  of  men,  and  his  duties 
growing  out  of  those  relations.  Among  others, 
he  reminds  him  of  the  bond-slaves  who  had  be- 
come Christians.  Them  also  he  was  to  exhort 
to  a  life  in  conformity  with  their  profession. 
Especially  must  he  remind  them  that,  though 
lowliest  of  the  lowly,  they  had  it  in  their  power 
to  "adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour  in 
all    things."     From    this    consideration    of    the 

65 


<£  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

humble  duty  of  the  humblest,  the  apostle  passes 
to  a  rapid  view  of  the  highest  and  holiest  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  revelation  in  connection 
with  the  school  of  grace.  ''For  the  grace  of 
God  hath  appeared,  bringing  salvation  to  all 
men,  instructing  us,  to  the  intent  that,  denying 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live 
soberly  and  righteously  and  godly  in  this 
present  world;  looking  for  the  blessed  hope  and 
appearing  of  the  glory  of  the  great  God  and  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  The  text  is  a  descrip- 
tion of  Christian  living  under  the  tutelage  of 
grace  divine,  and  looking  to  the  glory  that  is  to 
ToUow.  It  is  a  lowly  life;  but  it  hes  between 
two  glorious  appearings  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  The  lofty  and  the  lowly 
are  united  here;  and  the  one  sheds  light  upon  the 
other — the  grace  and  the  glory  combining  to 
ennoble  and  dignify  the  humble  life  of  faith. 

This,  then,  is  the  deeply  interesting  theme  of 
the  text  so  fittingly  introduced  to  Titus  by  the 
great  apostle,  viz. : — 

The  Functions  and  Relations  of  the  School 
OF  Grace 

The  development  of  this  theme  will  be  best 
accomplished   in  an   orderly  exposition   of  the 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    GRACE  67 

entire  passage.  We  are  in  danger  of  em- 
barrassment on  account  of  the  marvelous  riches 
here  disclosed.  The  scope  of  the  text  is 
majestic,  while  its  comprehension  of  details  is 
not  less  wonderful.  The  central  thought,  how- 
ever, around  which  cluster  all  others,  as  I  shall 
hope  to  show,  is  that  of  the  school  of  grace — 
the  origin,  progress,  and  consummation  of  a 
consistent,  believing  life,  under  the  instruction 
of  grace  divine.  Two  views  will  bring  the 
whole  subject  under  consideration: — 

I.     The  Functions  of  the  School  of  Grace 

The  figures  of  Holy  Scripture  describing  the 
life  of  faith  are  numerous  and  varied  and  af^uent. 
It  is  a  ''race,"  a  "warfare,"  a  "buying  and  selling," 
all  rich  in  significance  and  instruction.  Not  less 
so  is  the  illustration  of  the  text.  The  grace  of 
God,  says  Paul,  has  made  its  appearance  in  this 
way,  "instructing  us,"  or  "teaching  and  training 
us,  as  does  a  teacher  of  children."  This,  then,  is 
the  characteristic  of  the  life  of  faith  as  exhibited 
in  the  figure  of  the  text.  It  is  a  school,  where 
grace  is  the  teacher  and  the  converted  spirit  is 
the  learner.  The  world  too  often  looks  upon 
the  Christian  as  one  who  professes  to  have 
reached  the  standard  of  perfection;  and  because 


68  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

they  do  not  see  a  life  in  full  agreement  with  such 
a  hig-h  profession  they  are  ready  to  condemn 
him  as  a  hypocrite,  or  self-deceived.  But  no 
Christian  makes  such  a  profession.  We  are 
only  learners — it  may  be  have  just  entered  the 
school,  glad  to  sit  on  the  lowest  form  and  rank 
in  the  lowest  grade.  We  have  not  been  grad- 
uated. We  do  not  expect  to  receive  our 
diplomas  until  the  great  examination  day. 

In  the  meantime,  it  is  our  joy  that  we  are  in 
the  school  of  such  a  teacher.  Grace  divine  sits 
at  the  desk,  hears  us  recite,  clears  up  our  diffi- 
culties, relieves  our  perplexities,  bears  our  bur- 
dens, trains  us  in  habits  of  holiness,  and,  with 
infinite  patience  and  long-suffering,  bears  with 
our  waywardness  and  dullness  of  hearing  and 
slowness  of  comprehension.  Under  such  a 
teacher  we  cannot  but  make  progress,  for  we 
obtain  what  every  good  school  professes  to  give, 
both  study  and  discipline.  Grace  not  only 
teaches,  but  also  trains,  her  pupils.  We  are  at 
school. 

And,  as  in  other  schools,  there  are  some 
things  which  we  must  unlearn,  as  the  first  step 
in  the  acquisition  of  heavenly  wisdom.  So 
Paul  says,  grace  teaches  and  trains  us  to  deny 
''ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts."  This  process  of 
unlearning:  is  srenerallv  the  more  difficult  of  the 


THE   SCHOOL   OF    GRACE  69 

two  steps  to  knowledge.  It  is  so  here.  No 
more  difficult  task  is  set  before  us  than  the  prac- 
tical denial  of  ungodliness.  By  this  term  the 
apostle  seems  to  mean  the  spirit  of  separation 
from  God  and  forgetfulness  of  Him,  leading  to 
alienation  from  Him — the  condition  of  those 
whom  elsewhere  he  describes  as  living  ''without 
God  in  the  world."  It  is  the  spirit  that  dwells 
in  the  hearts  of  multitudes.  They  are  not  out- 
breaking sinners — trangressors  of  human  laws. 
They  are  not,  it  may  be,  grossly  immoral  or 
even  profanely  irreligious.  They  may  be  regu- 
lar attendants  upon  some  ministration  of  divine 
worship.  But  God  is  not  in  all  their  thoughts. 
They  have  practically  ruled  Him  out  of  their 
lives.  They  do  not  consciously  hate  Him ;  they 
simply  have  nothing  to  do  with  Him.  Their 
minds  are  full  of  thought;  but,  beyond  a  passing 
gleam  now  and  then,  they  never  recognize  the 
presence  of  the  Lord.  They  are  not  vicious  nor 
impious;  they  are  simply  and  only  ungodly, 
"without  God  in  the  world." 

What  is  true  of  the  impenitent  in  this  respect 
is  partially  true  of  the  Christian  believer.  For 
years  it  may  be,  we  have  been  forming  the  habit 
of  ungodliness;  and  the  first  thing  grace  does  in 
her  school  is  to  teach  and  train  us  to  break  up 
that  habit.  How  to  bring  God  into  the  hearit 
6 


TO  NEW    SHAFTS    IX    THE   OLD    MINE 

and  life?  This  is  one  of  the  lessons  we  must 
learn.  Or,  in  its  negative  form,  it  meets  us 
first:  How  can  we  banish  from  our  hearts  and 
lives  this  continual  tendency  to  forget  God  and 
to  live  v^ithout  Him  in  the  world?  In  the  ex- 
perience of  every  Christian  this  is  found  to  be 
the  most  difficult  lesson,  but  it  is  fundamental. 
It  bears  the  same  relation  to  other  studies  and 
lessons  that,  in  other  schools,  forming  the  habit 
of  attention  does  to  subsequent  progress.  No 
child  can  advance  in  learning  until  the  habit  of 
inattention  is  overcome;  nor  can  we  grow  in 
heavenly  knowledge  until  we  have  unlearned 
this  terrible  and  ruinous  habit  of  ungodliness. 
Grace  teaches  us  to  ''deny  ungodliness." 

She  teaches  also  the  denying  of  "worldly 
lusts."  ''Ye  are  not  under  law,  but  under 
grace."  But  even  grace  brings  us  face  to  face 
with  the  law,  as  a  rule  of  Hfe.  "Ungodliness" 
may  be  the  summing  up  of  breaches  of  the  first 
table  of  the  law,  the  duties  we  owe  to  God;  while 
"worldly  lusts"  may  refer  especially  to  sins 
against  the  second  table  of  that  law — the  duties 
we  owe  to  our  fellow-men.  And  the  second,  as 
truly  as  the  first,  we  must  unlearn^  learn  to  deny. 
The  two  are  wisely  coupled  together.  This 
inordinate  and  sinful  craving  after  the  things  of 
the  world  is  both  a  cause  and  an  effect  of  un- 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    GRACE  71 

godliness.  ''For  all  that  is  in  the  world/'  says 
John,  "the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the  lust  of  the 
eyes  and  the  vainglory  of  life,  is  not  of  the 
Father,  but  is  of  the  world."  And,  as  we  give 
ourselves  up  to  their  power,  we  forget  the 
Father,  and  in  our  lives  "increase  unto  more  and 
more  ungodliness."  The  pressure  and  seductive 
power  of  temptation,  the  growth  of  evil  passions, 
and  the  excessive  indulgence  of  even  lawful 
propensities  gradually  exclude  God  from  the 
heart.  We  have  no  loving  thought  of  Him. 
Our  affections  do  not  enkindle  toward  Him. 
Communion  with  Him  is  not  a  delight,  but  a 
drudgery. 

The  reactionary  influence  of  such  a  life  also  is 
equally  great.  Wanting  the  governing,  restrain- 
ing, and  moderating  power  of  a  supreme  love  for 
God,  there  is  no  brake  upon  the  wheels  of  life; 
and  down  the  hill  we  plunge,  with  a  rapidity  ever 
increasing  until,  in  the  bitterness  of  an  unavailing, 
because  too  late,  repentance,  we  learn  the  folly  of 
unbridled  passions  and  a  life  given  up  to  "worldly 
lusts." 

Just  here  grace  takes  us  in  hand,  as  the  teacher 
the  unlettered  child ;  and  first  of  all  seeks  to  break 
up  the  pernicious  habits  formed  while  we  were  yet 
living  in  impenitency  and  sin.  She  gives  us  to 
understand   that   the  opening   duty  of   a  believ- 


-2  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

ing  life  is  a  denial  of  "ungodliness  and  worldly 
lusts." 

Then,  having  unlearned  these  things,  we  are 
prepared  for  positive  advancement ;  and  the 
studies  in  the  school  of  grace  proceed.  She  teaches 
us  also  to  ''live  soberly  and  righteously  and 
godly  in  this  present  world."  We  cannot  but 
notice  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  course  of  in- 
struction. All  conceivable  duties  of  the  Christian 
life  are  summed  up  in  these  three  great  depart- 
ments of  her  curriculum.  What  we  owe  to  our- 
selves, to  our  fellow-men,  and  to  God,  makes  up 
the  account.  And  these  are  the  duties  in  which 
we  are  instructed  by  divine  grace.  She  teaches 
us  to  live  soberly  or  temperately  as  to  ourselves, 
having  self-command  in  all  the  appetites  of  the 
body  and  passions  of  the  soul,  so  that  we  shall  be 
habitually  and  symmetrically  men  and  women  of 
self-control.  She  teaches  us  also  to  live  right- 
eously as  to  others.  Beginning  at  home,  her  les- 
sons do  not  stop  there.  Her  instructions  reach 
forth  and  rest  upon  all  our  relations  to  our  fellow- 
men.  Nor  do  they  stop  there.  Ascending  in  the 
scale  they  terminate  only  in  God.  With  self-com- 
mand and  upright  living  must  be  combined  piety 
tow^ard  God.  This  is  both  the  root  and  fruit  of 
Christian  living.  It  is  the  highest  lesson  of  the 
course.      When   we   shall   have   learned   it   thor- 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    GRACE  n 

oughly  our  tutelage  to  grace  will  have  ended ;  and, 
in  a  higher  sphere,  we  shall  enter  upon  a  life  of 
holy  fellowship  with  God.  The  graduation  day 
will  have  come ! 

After  this  glance  into  the  school  of  divine 
grace,  we  may  profitably  pause  upon  some  obvious 
conclusions. 

We  see  how  the  learning  is  set  over  against  the 
unlearning.  It  is  not  a  school  of  negations.  W^e 
unlearn  the  destructive  habits  of  ungodliness  and 
worldly  lusts ;  but  our  souls  are  not  left  in  vacancy 
and  gaping  emptiness.  We  learn  also  sobriety  of 
life,  righteousness  of  conduct,  and  fervor  of  devo- 
tion. And  the  latter  are  substituted  for  the 
former.  That  reckless,  headstrong,  career  of 
worldly  lusts  that  overrides  our  own  and  our 
neighbor's  rights  is  laid  aside ;  and  we  learn  to  live 
both  soberly  and  righteously.  That  ungodliness 
that  marks  the  lives  of  multitudes  and  character- 
ized our  own  in  time  past  is  given  up ;  and  hence- 
forth we  walk  with  God.  The  throne  of  self  and 
worldly  lusts  is  overturned;  and  henceforth  God 
sways  a  rightful  sceptre  in  the  realm  of  our 
spiritual  nature.  We  have  found  the  true 
astronomy.  The  sun,  and  not  the  earth,  is  now 
the  center.  God,  and  not  the  soul,  is  the  central 
pivot  of  a  holy  life. 

We  see,  also,  how  unreasonable  the  charge  that 


74  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

grace  tempts  to  sin,  that  faith  tends  to  looseness 
of  Hving.  We  might  as  well  say  that  the  teacher 
invites  disorder  in  the  schoolroom.  All  the  ar- 
rangements of  the  plan  of  salvation  conduce  to 
holiness.  The  eternal  choice  was  ''to  sanctifica- 
tion."  The  divine  will  is  that  men  shall  not 
merely  reach  heaven,  but  "shall  come  to  repent- 
ance." With  all  the  motives  that  can  be  gathered 
from  both  worlds,  the  saved  and  the  lost,  the 
gospel  presses  upon  us  the  necessity  of  holy  living. 
If  professedly  Christian  men,  therefore,  live  in 
sin,  it  is  from  no  influence  of  Christianity,  but 
from  the  want  of  it.  Habitual  and  willful  con- 
tinuance in  wTongdoing  on  the  part  of  its  ad- 
herents is  no  proof  of  the  falsity  of  religion.  It 
demonstrates  only  that  they  have  none  of  it.  If 
they  were  learners  in  the  school  of  grace,  they 
would  be  growing  in  sobriety,  righteousness,  and 
piety  of  life. 

Yet  this  must  not  be  forgotten — they  are  only 
learners.  They  have  not  attained  perfection. 
They  may  miss  this  question,  and  fail  in  that  les- 
son, yet  are  your  children  not  expelled  from 
school.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  assisted  and 
trained  and  disciplined  all  the  more  carefully  and 
thoroughly.  This  also  grace  does  for  the  Qiris- 
tian;  for  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  here 
used  by  Paul.     The  teaching  of  grace  means  also 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    GRACE  75 

training  and  discipline.  So,  tenderly  and  might- 
ily, does  grace  divine  educate  all  who  are  truly 
her  pupils.  They  are  consciously  imperfect,  ever 
learning,  often  missing,  failing,  falling,  yet  lifted 
up  again  by  the  friendly  teacher,  and  strengthened 
by  their  falls,  and  evermore  enabled  to  hold  on  in 
their  upward,  heavenward  way. 

These,  my  friends,  are  some  of  the  functions  of 
the  school  of  grace  divine.  Our  view  of  them, 
of  course,  has  been  of  the  most  cursory  and  gen- 
eral charcter.  The  text  is  a  gospel  in  itself — every 
word  and  expression  instinct  with  the  merciful 
voices  of  salvation.  I  have  chosen  to  present  the 
subject,  thus  far,  under  the  figure  of  a  school  of 
learning;  because  this  seems  to  have  been  the 
emblem  in  the  apostle's  mind,  w^hen  portraying 
the  characteristics  of  the  believing  life.  The  same 
language  of  parable  will  fittingly  introduce  us  to 
the  second  great  topic  of  the  passage,  viz. : — 

II.  The  Relations  of  this  School  of  Grace 

We  will  suppose  a  ragged  urchin  of  the 
street,  poverty-stricken,  houseless,  homeless,  and 
friendless.  He  shall  be  a  forsaken,  lone,  and 
wretched  beggar,  an  incarnate  misery,  the  walking 
voice  of  woe.  To  him,  in  all  his  forlorn  and 
hopeless  sorrow,  a  stranger  appears  with  words 


76  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD   MINE 

of  cheer.  With  commanding  mien,  benignant 
face,  and  benevolent  heart,  he  wins  the  wandering 
boy's  affection.  He  binds  him  to  himself  with 
bands  of  love,  and  can  do  with  him  as  he  will. 
He  puts  him  to  school;  and,  leaving  him  with  a 
promise  to  come  again  at  the  termination  of  his 
school  days  he  disappears.  It  is  with  this  portion 
of  the  child's  life  that  we  have  especially  to  do. 
The  long  years  roll  on.  His  one  great  business 
is  to  learn  wisdom  and  to  acquire  the  needful  dis- 
cipline of  all  his  powers.  Yet  is  it  not  manifest 
that,  all  the  time,  there  will  be  filling  his 
mind  and  giving  coloring  to  the  thoughts  and 
hopes  of  his  soul,  two  scenes?  He  will  be  ever 
recurring  to  that  memorable  day  when  the  stranger 
appeared  and  took  him  in.  And  from  that  scene 
he  will  turn,  with  eager  and  loving  expectancy,  to 
that  coming  day  when  his  benefactor  shall  come 
again,  bringing  the  promised  reward. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  text,  we  shall  see  that 
this  picture  portrays  the  relations  of  the  life  of 
holiness  on  earth.  Our  Christian  life  is  in  the 
schoolroom.  Here  lies  our  great  work,  learning 
and  discipline.  But  we  can  never  cease  to  revert 
to  that  blessed  day  when  Christ  appeared  in  mercy 
to  lift  us  up  and  put  us  in  training  for  His 
heavenly  kingdom.  And  thence  we  look  forward 
and  live  in  waiting  for  His  appearing  in  glory, 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    GRACE  ^^ 

bringing  the  amaranthine  crown  for  every  faithful 
servant.  These  are  the  glorious  appearings  re- 
ferred to  in  the  text.  Grace  divine  hath  ap- 
peared bringing  salvation  to  all  men :  and,  in  her 
school,  we  wait  for  the  other  appearing — "the  ap- 
pearing of  the  glory  of  the  great  God  and  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  only  a  lowly  school- 
life;  but  it  is  bordered  on  this  side  and  on  that  by 
the  manifestation  of  grace  and  of  glory. 

Let  us  now  examine,  in  further  analysis  of  this 
passage,  these  relations  of  the  school  of  grace. 

Grace  is  one  of  the  precious  words  of  our  lan- 
guage. To  a  race  of  sinners,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  word  possesses  sweeter  meaning.  It 
speaks  of  favor  undeserved.  In  tones  of  pene- 
trating powxr  it  reaches  the  consciously  unworthy, 
and  spreads  a  quiet,  solid  comfort  through  the 
spirit.  It  appears  in  robes  of  mercy  to  the  care- 
less, hardened  soul,  and  the  vision  is  entrancing. 
Beneath  her  loving  eyes,  that  sin-cased  spirit  opens 
in  ever-adoring  wonder  as  the  sinner  comes  to 
know  yet  more  and  more  this  gentle  messenger 
of  saving  peace.  She  tells  of  an  open  door  and  a 
waiting  welcome.  She  shows  the  sceptre  ex- 
tended and  invites  the  suppliant's  near  approach. 
Her  face  is  radiant  with  tenderest  benediction,  as 
she  lifts  the  footsore  wanderer  across  the  thresh- 
old  of   the   house   of   mercy.     And    from    every 


78  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

voice  of  rescued  spirits  shall  rise  the  grateful  song- 
of  thanksgiving — 

"Grace !  'tis  a  charming  sound, 
Harmonious  to  mine  ear! 
Heaven    with    the    echo    shall    resound, 
And  all  the  earth  shall  hear!" 

In  grace  divine  originates  all  genuine  Christian 
living.  The  God  of  mercy  must  take  the  first 
step.  The  shepherd  must  seek  the  wandering 
sheep.  The  father  must  go  after  the  wayward 
child.  ''God  commendeth  His  own  love  toward  us, 
in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for 
us."  This  is  the  view  of  grace  presented  in  the 
text.  It  is  no  passive  and  inoperative  feeling  of 
compassion.  As  3^ou  stand  upon  the  bank  of  yon- 
der river,  while  your  causeless  enemy  is  vainly  en- 
deavoring to  escape  the  destruction  that  seems 
imminent  from  the  turbulent  flood,  you  may  feel 
a  true  compassion  for  him,  though  others  and  not 
yourself  may  be  engaged  in  active  efforts  to  re- 
lieve and  save  him.  But  your  mercy  to  the  un- 
deserving will  shine  out  most  of  all  in  the  earnest 
endeavor  you  make  to  rescue  him  from  a  watery 
grave.  This  is  God's  mercy !  The  grace  is  not 
simply  divine  compassion.  It  is  "grace  bringing 
salvation!"  It  is  divine  love  hastening  to  rescue 
the  perishing!     It  is  the  angel  of  mercy  flying 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    GR.\CE  79. 

through  the  heavens,  bearing  and  proclaiming  the 
sovereign  remed}'  for  the  sins  and  woes  of  the 
human  race.  She  ''that  bringeth  salvation  hath  ap- 
peared to  all  men,"  or,  as  the  Revised  Version 
reads,  she  has  ''appeared,  bringing  salvation  to  all 
men."  It  matters  little  which  reading  be  pre- 
ferred. Paul  has  just  spoken  of  the  Christian 
duties  of  different  classes  of  men ;  and  this  is  the 
grand  motive  to  fidelity  among  all  of  them,  that 
divine  grace  has  appeared  bringing  salvation,  not 
in  saving  power  to  every  one,  but  within  the  reach 
of  all. 

Or,  if  the  other  reading  be  preferred,  the  truth 
is  not  less  precious  and  blessed.  Grace  has  ap- 
peared to  all  men.  The  word  here  used  means 
literally,  "shining  forth,"  and  is  borrowed  from 
the  sun-rising.  If  now  we  gather  into  one  the 
scattered  fragments  of  truth  underlying  these 
words,  what  a  picture  we  shall  have!  Darkness 
enshrouds  the  entire  world.  The  stars  themselves 
have  gone  out  in  the  gathering  gloom,  and  hope 
seems  almost  expiring  in  all  faithful  hearts,  as  ever 
and  anon  they  turn  their  wistful  eyes  to  the  distant 
eastern  sky.  But  now,  when  expectation  is  well- 
nigh  dead,  "rosy-fingered  aurora"  swings  open  the 
gates  of  the  morning,  and  the  first  faint  bands  of 
light  foretell  the  coming  day.  The  sun  is  in  the 
ascendant.     The   darkness   flies   before  his    face, 


8o  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

while  joy  and  gladness  beam  now  upon  the  ran- 
somed world.  This  is  the  glorious  vision  of  grace, 
as  she  appears  to  all  men,  bringing  salvation.  The 
light  does  shine  and  grow;  and  life  reigns  beneath 
its  gladdening  beams.  No  doubt  there  are  many 
hearts  that  grace  has  never  touched  and  many 
minds  that  have  no  eyes  to  see  the  light.  So  there 
are  many  spots  on  the  earth  where  men  may  hide 
and  never  see  the  sun.  Blind  men  there  are,  for 
all  its  glory.  But  the  sun  does  shine;  and,  in  the 
text,  rises  higher  and  higher,  until  on  every  heart 
his  beams  shall  fall,  and  every  eye  shall  open  to 
his  gladdening,  glorifying  rays. 

So  to  the  ragged,  homeless  boy,  the  unexpected 
and  undeserved  appearing  of  the  kind  stranger 
seemed  a  marvelous  shining  forth  of  mercy.  Ever 
after  he  would  look  upon  that  hour  as  the  watcher 
looks  upon  the  dawn  of  the  morning.  So  the 
Lord  appeared  to  you,  my  friend,  in  the  hour  of 
your  conversion.  Then  on  your  darkened  soul 
grace  divine  arose,  like  the  sun,  and  turned  your 
heart  from  darkness  unto  light.  Such  also  was 
the  coming  of  our  Saviour  to  take  away  iniquity, 
and  to  bring  in  an  everlasting  righteousness.  To 
a  lost  world  divine  grace  then  appeared  like  the 
sun  breaking  from  the  gates  of  dawn,  to  give  life 
and  light  to  a  sinful  and  benighted  race. 

Passing,  with  this  thought,   from  the  general 


THE    SCHOOL   OF    GRACE  8i 

view,  we  reach  a  particular  aspect  of  the  relations 
of  grace  and  Christian  living.  The  grace  that 
shines  forth  like  the  sun  with  salvation  in  its  beams 
is  seen  especially  in  this  that  Christ  "gave  Him- 
self for  us,  that  He  might  redeem  us  from  all 
iniquity,  and  purify  unto  Himself  a  people  for  His 
own  possession,  zealous  of  good  works."  The 
time  fails  for  a  minute  examination  of  these 
words.     I  confine  myself  to  two  remarks : — 

First,  We  notice  the  appropriateness  and  felicity 
of  the  apostle's  language.  We  recall  the  fact 
that  he  is  speaking  of  the  duty  of  servants,  or 
bond-slaves,  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our 
Saviour — ours  and  theirs  !  Could  there  have  been 
a  happier  turn  of  the  thought  than  to  speak  of  that 
Saviour  as  a  Redeemer,  giving  Himself  as  a  ran- 
som to  buy  us  out  of  captivity,  the  bondage  of 
iniquity? 

Second,  We  cannot  fail  to  observe  the  close 
connection  between  this  gracious  work  of  Christ 
and  the  teaching  of  divine  grace.  We  learn  to 
live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this  present 
world,  because  we  have  been  ransomed  from  the 
servitude  of  sin  for  this  very  purpose.  We  are 
redeemed  from  all  iniquity  that  we  may  become  a 
people  "for  His  own  possession,"  purified  and 
zealous  of  good  works.  Can  we  then  live  in  sin? 
Dare  we?     Does  grace  teach  looseness  and  im- 


S2  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

morality  of  life  in  her  school?  No  more  than 
the  sun  scatters  darkness  around  the  world !  The 
beggar  boy  is  taken  from  the  street  to  be  taught 
and  trained  in  upright  living.  And  this  is  the 
relation  of  Christian  living  to  grace  divine:  it 
originates  in  grace  and  grows  out  of  grace.  The 
life  of  faith  stands  between  the  grace  and  the 
glory:  it  springs  forth  from  the  one  and  it  looks 
forward  to  the  other. 

The  consideration  of  this  last  thought  will  com- 
plete the  exposition  of  the  text,  viz. : — 

The  relations  of  the  school  of  grace  to  the 
glory  that  is  to  follow.  Recurring  to  the  parable 
figure  that  underlies  the  passage,  the  schoolboy's 
life  is  bordered  by  two  grand  events.  One  is  the 
unexpected  appearance  of  the  compassionate 
stranger.  The  other  is  his  promised  return — ex- 
pected, waited  for,  longed  for,  prayed  for.  For 
that  return  he  diligently  prepares.  The  delight  of 
that  day  he  vainly  endeavors  to  conceive.  Then 
he  shall  receive  graduation  from  the  school  of 
grace.  Then  he  shall  have  his  reward.  And 
more  than  all,  then  he  shall  know  more  of  that 
compassionate  spirit  who  befriended  him  in  the 
day  of  his  need. 

Need  I  interpret  the  parable?  We  are  the  chil- 
dren. Our  Christian  living  is  in  the  schoolroom. 
Grace  divine  is  the  teacher.     We  remember  how 


THE   SCHOOL   OF   GRACE  83 

she  came  to  us  at  first,  enrobed  in  mercy,  in  the 
person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Her  appear- 
ance, as  we  recall  the  sacred  hour,  was  like  the 
rising  of  the  sun.  And  in  her  school  since  that 
day  she  has  instructed  us,  taught,  and  trained  us, 
as  ransomed  souls,  to  abandon  all  ungodliness  and 
worldly  lusts  and  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and 
godly  in  this  present  world.  We  have  not  learned 
these  lessons  thoroughly  as  yet ;  but  we  are  making 
progress.  It  is  a  stimulus  to  us  to  recall  the  day 
when  grace  first  appeared. 

But  our  eyes  are  oftener  toward  the  front.  We 
study  and  learn,  ever  waiting  for  the  blessed  ob- 
ject of  our  hope,  even  the  "appearing  of  the  glory 
of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 
When  He  returns,  ''school  will  let  out,"  the  books 
will  be  put  up,  the  examinations  will  have  been 
passed,  and  the  diplomas  given.  And  then  the 
old  schoolhouse  will  be  shut  up;  and  we  shall 
pass  from  the  days  of  preparation  to  the  grand 
destinies  and  soul-inspiring  visions  and  activities 
of  the  heavenly  world. 

A  final  thought  connects  this  school  of  grace 
with  our  nearest  relationships  to  our  dear 
heavenly  Father.  Paul  would  have  Titus  tell  the 
slaves  that  God,  in  His  tender  mercy,  was  keeping 
them  in  grace's  school  of  sore  discipline  and  teach- 
ing and  training  to  fit  them,  though  lowliest  of  the 


84  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

lowly,  to  be  ''His  own  possession.''  How  com- 
forting and  precious  the  thought !  We  send  our 
children  to  school ;  we  build  up  great  institutions 
at  vast  cost  for  their  adequate  training;  we  do  it 
because  they  are  our  own,  and  that  they  may  de- 
velop characters,  and  come  to  live  lives  worthy  of 
their  fathers.  Because  they  are  our  own  we  do 
all  this.  They  are  in  our  homes,  inherit  our  blood, 
and  share  our  aspirations  and  our  hopes.  We 
would  not  do  this  for  servants. 

But  just  this  is  what  God  does.  He  takes  the 
bond-slave  and  puts  him  into  grace's  school  that 
he  may  be  fitted  to  be  "His  very  own."  Oh,  the 
wonder  of  it!  His  own!  His  own!  His  very 
own! 


WORLDLINESS 


WORLDLINESS  * 

Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father 
is  not  in  him.  For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes  and  the  vainglory  of  life, 
is  not  of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world.  And  the  world 
passeth  away,  and  the  lust  thereof:  but  he  that  doeth  the 
will  of  God  abideth  forever. — I  John  ii :   15-17. 

God  made  the  world,  and  God  wrote  the  word. 
His  Spirit  moved  upon  the  face  of  chaos,  and  its 
confusion  turned  to  order.  The  same  divine  in- 
fluence pervaded  human  minds;  and  holy  "men 
spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy 
Spirit."  And  God  has  brought  all  of  us  who  are 
His  children  into  closest  intimacy  with  both  world 
and  word.  We  live  in  the  one,  and  the  other 
lives  in  us.  The  world  is  intertwined  with  all  our 
outer  life;  the  word  is  intermingled  with  the 
springs  and  sources  of  our  inner  being.  The 
Christian  is  bound  to  both  by  ties  which  no  mortal 
power  can  sever.  He  can  neither  leave  the 
world  not  forget  the  word. 

*For  some  of  the  outline  of  this  discourse,  especially  the 
obvious  order  of  the  second  part,  and  for  a  single  para- 
graph of  the  same,  the  author  has  drawn  upon  the  gifted 
Robertson  of  Brighton, 

87 


SS  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

But  suppose  they  come  in  conflict,  the  one  with 
the  other?  What  then?  Is  such  a  resuh  pos- 
sible? Is  God's  mind  divided,  so  that  what  He 
says  in  the  one  revelation  is  contradicted  by  what 
He  says  in  the  other?  Will  God  have  the  minds 
of  His  people  divided,  so  that  a  regard  for  the 
world  shall  be  inconsistent  with  a  regard  for  the 
word?  Is  there  any  such  contradiction  between 
these  two  factors  of  our  earthly  life?  There  cer- 
tainly seems  to  be  in  the  passage  now  before  us. 
Is  it  a  real  contradiction?  How  shall  we  recon- 
cile the  discrepancy  ?  Does  it  need  any  reconcilia- 
tion? 

These  are  questions  that  spontaneously  suggest 
themselves,  as  we  read  these  words  of  the  beloved 
disciple  and  ponder  such  statements  as  have  just 
been  made.  And  we  may  say  they  are  all  summed 
up  in  the  one  inquiry,  so  often  propounded  in  our 
day,  and  often,  too,  by  professed  followers  of 
Christ,  "What  is  worldliness?"  The  whole  sub- 
ject will  fittingly  come  before  us  in  an  exposition 
of  the  text.  And  the  exposition  will  cover  these 
two  lines  of  thought,  viz. :  The  meaning  of  the 
command,  and  the  reasonable  character  of  it. 

I.     The  Meaning  of  the  Command 

"Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that 
are  in  the  world."     To  the  Cliristian  the  will  of 


WORLDLINESS  89 

God  is  the  supreme  law.  A  divine  command  is 
to  him  an  end  of  all  controversy.  He  is  nothing 
if  he  be  not  obedient.  The  life,  more  than  the 
profession,  and  deeds,  rather  than  words,  must 
demonstrate  the  genuineness  of  the  Christian 
character.  The  Lord  Jesus  Himself  insists  upon 
this  :  *'Why  call  ye  me.  Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the 
things  which  I  say?"  His  command  is  the  final 
authority.  But  we  must  understand  w^hat  His 
commands  mean  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  our  in- 
telligent obedience.  This  is  the  first  object  of  our 
inquiry  respecting  the  command  of  the  text, 
*'What  does  it  mean?" 

The  most  obvious  reflection  concerning  it  is  in 
reference  to  its  sweeping  prohibitory  character. 
It  is  not  the  sorrowful  advice  of  an  old  and  now 
penitent  sinner  who.  like  Solomon,  having  tried 
every  form  of  earthly  delight  and  found  it  only 
vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  w^arns  a  younger 
generation  against  such  an  unhappy  and  unsatis- 
fying life.  John  indeed  was  old  when  he  wrote 
these  words;  but  his  was  eminently  a  green  and 
happy  old  age.  And  even  if  this  were  not  so,  it 
would  make  no  difference.  These  are  not  John's 
words,  but  his  Lord's,  spoken  through  him.  They 
bear  the  clear-cut,  decisive  lines  of  a  divine  com- 
mand. Without  hesitation,  equivocation,  or 
qualification  the  prohibition  meets  us,  ''Love  not 


90  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

the  world.''  And  its  scope  is  as  wide  as  its  mean- 
ing is  unqualified.  ''Love  not  the  world,  neither 
the  things  that  are  in  the  world.''  The  general 
covers  the  particulars;  the  parts  are  summed  up 
in  the  whole.  But  here  we  have  both.  All  the 
world,  and  everything  in  the  world :  these  are 
prohibited  objects  of  our  affection. 

To  many,  doubtless,  this  is  a  hard  saying;  and 
you  are  thinking,  If  obedience  here  be  the  test  of 
Christian  discipleship,  then  we  can  never  become 
Christians.  I  agree  with  you  that  this  part  of 
the  text  has  an  uncompromising  aspect,  unre- 
lieved, possibly,  by  anything  yet  to  be  mentioned. 
But  let  us  nevertheless  give  a  patient  and  thought- 
ful attention  to  the  subject  to  the  end  of  the  ex- 
position. 

Further  reflection  upon  the  command  will  bring 
out  another  fact  concerning  it,  viz. :  Its  sub- 
stantial accord  with  the  teaching  of  other  Scrip- 
tures. It  is  no  solitary  and  isolated  requirement. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  so  thoroughly  imbedded  in 
the  instructions  of  the  New  Testament  govern- 
ing Christian  living  that  a  surrender  of  it  is  a 
practical  denial  of  much  that  is  of  unquestionable 
and  absolute  authority.  A  few  quotations  will  be 
sufficient  to  confirm  what  has  been  said.  Paul 
writes  to  the  Romans  in  this  way :  "Be  not  fash- 
ioned according  to  this  world :  but  be  ye  trans- 


WORLDLINESS  91 

formed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye 
may  prove  what  is  that  good  and  acceptable  and 
perfect  will  of  God."  James  also  writes  to  his 
scattered  kindred :  "The  friendship  of  the  world 
is  enmity  with  God.  Whosoever  therefore  would 
be  a  friend  of  the  world  maketh  himself  an  enemy 
of  God."  And  Christ's  own  words  are  not  less 
explicit  than  these  of  His  inspired  followers — "If 
ye  were  of  the  world,  the  world  would  love  its 
own :  but  because  ye  are  not  of  the  world,  but  I 
chose  you  out  of  the  world,  therefore  the  world 
hateth  you." 

There  is  here  no  room  for  us  to  doubt  that 
these  passages  point  in  the  same  direction  with 
the  text.  What  it  forbids  they  forbid.  If  it 
seems  uncompromising  and  severe,  much  more 
are  they.  And  with  the  accordant  teachine  of 
such  Scriptures  before  us  we  cannot,  without 
taking  leave  of  our  common  sense,  fail  to  see 
that  there  is  a  world  which  Christians  are  for- 
bidden to  love.  However  much  we  might  wish 
it  were  otherwise,  the  things  that  are  in  that 
world  are  prohibited  as  objects  of  our  affection. 
What,  then,  is  that  world,  and  what  are  these 
things?  This  is  the  pressing  question.  And 
it  brings  us  to  the  necessity  of  a  more  accu- 
rate definition.  Of  what  world  does  John 
speak  ? 


92  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

The  first  thought  suggested  by  the  term  is 
about  the  reahn  of  nature.  We  think  of  fields 
and  flowers,  of  trees  and  temples,  of  mountains 
and  the  main.  It  is  the  world  God  made,  and 
in  the  beginning  pronounced  very  good.  The 
world  it  is  that,  though  cursed  for  man's  sake,  is 
yet  full  of  beaut}^  and  of  grandeur,  a  world 
where  the  sun  shines  and  the  clouds  rain,  a 
world  that,  through  unceasing  and  ever-grateful 
changes,  marches  round  the  circuit  of  the  year. 
Is  this  the  world  that  God  forbids  us  to  love,  a 
world  that  in  all  the  opening  glories  of  the 
spring-time  fills  our  every  sense  with  ereat  de- 
light, and  in  the  season  of  falling  leaves  and  fad- 
ing flowers  reminds  us  of  human  frailty :  is  the 
love  of  such  a  world  forbidden?  No,  my 
l:»rethren!  The  command  has  no  reference  to 
the  realm  of  nature. 

Then  does  it  refer  to  human  society?  For, 
from  nature,  our  thoughts  turn  next  to  the  world 
of  living  men.  May  we  not  set  our  affection 
upon  our  fellow-beings?  Does  not  God  Him- 
self command  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  our- 
selves? I  need  not  stop  to  answer  the  question. 
God's  mind  is  not  divided,  and  this  is  the  second 
of  the  only  two  supreme  commands.  ''He  that 
loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  cannot 
love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen." 


WORLDLINESS  93 

Is  the  forbidden  world,  then,  our  business  or 
social  life?  May  we  not  rejoice  in  the  happiness 
and  comfort  of  society  and  participate  in  its 
pleasures,  as  we  share  its  burdens  and  bear  its 
sorrows?  May  we  not  love  our  respective 
callings,  the  mechanic  his  trade,  the  merchant  his 
merchandise,  the  sailor  his  ship,  the  lawyer  his 
brief,  and  the  professor  his  books?  May  we  not 
love  these  ?  Must  we  not  love  them  ?  Is  not  suc- 
cess born  of  this  love  for  them  and  of  enthusiasm 
in  them?  Every  one  will  answer  affirmatively, 
and  the  Scriptures  seal  the  reply.  Diligence  in 
business  is  as  truly  a  divine  requirement  as 
fervency  of  spirit. 

But,  if  not  these  things,  where  is  that  world 
the  love  of  which  is  here  forbidden?  Is  it  so 
intangible  that  it  cannot  be  touched,  so 
shadowy  that  it  cannot  be  described,  so  ethereal 
that  it  evermore  eludes  the  fastening  down  of 
human  speech?  We  shall  see  presently.  The 
process  is  slow,  and  our  steps  may  seem  para- 
doxes, but  better  this  than  that  any  doubt  should 
rest  upon  our  conclusion.  I  have  said  the  for- 
bidden world  is  not  nature,  nor  men,  nor  pleas- 
ure, nor  work.  But  mark  the  word,  that 
world  lies  underneath  and  embraces  all  of  them. 
You  know  there  is  a  church  within  the  church. 
The  church  of  God  does  not  consist  in  splendid 


94  NEW  SHAFTS  IN  THE  OLD  MINE 

sanctuaries,  elaborate  services,  and  an  eloquent 
ministry.  It  may  be  in  these,  but  its  essence  is 
not  of  them.  They  may  be  where  it  is  not.  The 
crowd  may  be  there.  The  church  register  may 
be  full  of  names  and  the  pews  full  of  people ;  but 
these  do  not  make  a  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
It  may  be  sought  in  them,  but  it  must  be  found 
beneath  them.  It  consists  not  in  the  form,  but 
in  the  spirit ;  and  its  source  and  ever-faithful  pre- 
server is  the  omnipotent  Spirit  of  God. 

Now  what  God  does  for  His  church,  Satan 
does  in  the  world.  Underneath  and  within  its 
outer,  bounding  lines,  he  interjects  his  spirit,  and 
builds  up  a  world  the  love  of  which  is  fatal  to 
the  soul.  It  is  an  exceedingly  plausible  coun- 
terfeit, but  terrible  in  its  plausibility.  He  who 
trades  with  it  as  genuine  must  be  speedily  over- 
whelmed with  spiritual  bankruptcy.  We  see  this 
spurious  currency  in  the  very  affection  of  which 
I  am  speaking,  love.  There  is  a  love  that  is  out- 
going, unselfish,  self-sacrificing.  Such  is  your 
love  for  your  child.  But,  my  friends,  have  you 
failed  to  notice  that  there  is  also  an  appropriat- 
ing love  that  is  intensely  selfish?  The  miser 
loves  gold,  and  he  grasps  it  as  with  the  grip  of 
death.  The  libertine  loves  sensual  pleasure,  and 
he  follows  it  with  the  remorseless  fury  of  a  fiend. 
Love  here  is  lust. 


WORLDLINESS  95 

And  this  brings  us  back  once  more  to  the 
question,  What  is  the  world  of  which  John 
speaks?  It  is  the  world  of  inordinate  and  selfish 
desire.  It  has  its  essence  not  in  the  object,  but 
in  the  affection.  This  is  the  definition  of  the 
apostle.  The  forbidden  world  is  not  nature, 
nor  men,  nor  pleasure,  nor  business,  nor  honor, 
nor  any  earthly  calling;  but  it  is  the  spirit  with 
which  we  regard  them.  This  is  the  forbidden 
realm.  This  is  worldhness.  It  is  not  the  flesh, 
nor  the  eye,  nor  the  life,  but  it  is  the  ''lust  of  the 
flesh,"  and  the  "lust  of  the  eyes,"  and  the  "vain- 
glory of  life."  These  are  not  of  the  Father,  but 
are  of  the  world. 

And  they  are  mentioned  by  John  as  if  they 
constituted  the  sum  total  of  Satan's  riches,  the 
great  aggregate  of  this  counterfeit  world :  "All 
that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the 
lust  of  the  eyes  and  the  vainglory  of  life."  And  the 
unbroken  uniformity  with  which  they  are  offered 
to  men  would  seem  to  confirm  his  statement. 
For  example,  is  Eve  to  be  tempted  ?  She  is  made 
to  believe  that  the  tree  is  good  for  food,  the  "lust 
of  the  flesh;"  and  pleasant  to  the  eye,  the  "lust 
of  the  eyes;"  and  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise,  "the  vainglory  of  life."  Is  Sodom  to  be 
ruined?  "Pride,  fullness  of  bread,  and  abund- 
ance of  idleness,"  but  other  names  for  the  same 


96  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

things,  sliall  be  her  sins.  Is  Christ  to  be 
tempted?  The  stones  to  be  made  bread  shall 
mark  the  "lust  of  the  flesh,"  the  miracle-averted 
fall  from  the  temple-pinnacle,  the  ''lust  of  the 
eyes,"  and  the  world-wide  dominion  the  "vain- 
glory of  life."  And  may  we  not  trace  the  same 
forms,  under  other  names,  in  the  wayside,  stony, 
and  thorny,  ground  hearers,  in  the  parable,  and 
scarcely  less,  in  the  honors,  riches,  and  pleasures 
of  the  present  life? 

This  is  the  great  anti-trinity.  They  sum  the 
aggregate  of  that  world  the  love  of  which  is 
forbidden  to  the  Christian.  Can  we  be  in  any 
doubt,  then,  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  command? 
The  prohibited  realm  is  marked  by  these  three 
things:  "the  lust  of  the  flesh."  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  lower  to  the  neglect  of  the  higher 
nature;  "the  lust  of  the  eyes,"  a  regard  for  the 
seen,  the  obtrusive,  surrounding  present  to  the 
neglect  of  the  unseen  and  the  eternal;  "the  vain- 
glory of  life,"  a  reference  to  the  opinions  of 
men  rather  than  to  the  mind  of  God,  a  measur- 
ing of  life  by  its  accidents  rather  than  by  its 
essence,  by  wealth,  and  rank,  and  culture,  not  by 
character,  regarding  a  man  for  what  he  has 
rather  than  for  what  he  is.  These  things  make 
up  the  forbidden  world,  and  such  like  things  as 
these.     And  worldliness  is  the  surrender  of  the 


WORLDLINESS  97 

heart   to   the   rule   of   this   great   trinity    of   evil 
powers. 

It  is  not  difficult,  therefore,  to  determine  who 
are  the  worldly.  Worldliness  does  not  consist 
in  any  separate  and  isolated  act,  but  in  the  spirit 
that  prompts  the  act.  It  is  not  so  much  the  life 
in  the  world  as  it  is  the  world  in  the  heart — the 
world  absorbing  the  affections.  To  settle  the 
question,  therefore,  whether  I  am  worldly 
or  not,  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  decide 
whether  any  one  specified  act  is  inconsistent 
wath  my  Christian  character  or  not,  though  the 
same  act  often  and  deliberately  repeated,  or  a  mul- 
titude of  similar  acts,  would  settle  it,  because  they 
would  indicate  the  spirit  that  prompted  them :  but 
the  great  question  is,  How  stands  my  heart  toward 
all  these  things?  Are  my  thoughts  concentered 
upon  the  sensual,  or  the  transient,  or  the  facti- 
tious? Do  I  think  most  of  dress,  furniture,  dis- 
play, position,  wealth,  and  enjoyment?  Is  my 
life  a  struggle  for  these  things?  Is  it  filled  with 
strifes  and  envies  and  heart-burnings,  because  I 
cannot  get  them  in  the  measure  of  my  acquaint- 
ances? And,  while  thus  lusting  after  worldly 
things,  do  I  forget  my  soul,  my  sanctuary,  my 
Saviour,  my  salvation?  Then  I  am  worldly.  In 
name  a  Christian,  in  the  life  and  power  a 
stranger  to   God  and   the  voice   of   His  grace.. 


98  NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

And  on  my  heart  comes  down,  with  solemn 
emphasis,  the  weighty  interdict  of  the  text, 
''Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are 
in  the  world."  Is  the  command  a  grievous 
one,  my  brethren?  The  question  starts  the 
other  line  of  thought,  viz. : — 

11.     The  Reasonable  Character  of  the 
Command 

It  does  not  seem  so.  It  appears  to  strike  a 
blow  at  the  very  root  of  all  enjoyment  in  our 
earthly  life.  We  do  not  question  God's  right  to 
command,  nor  our  obligation  to  obey;  but  we 
instinctively  reach  out  in  search  of  the  justifying 
reasons  for  a  command  so  sweeping  and  so 
emphatic.  Our  search  is  rewarded  in  the  text. 
Three  reasons  for  such  a  requirement  are  here 
given  us. 

I.  The  love  of  the  world  is  incompatible  with 
the  love  of  the  Father.  'Tf  any  man  love  the 
world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him." 
The  words  imply  what  we  all  know,  that  we  must 
love  somebody  or  something.  "No  man,"  says 
a  gifted  preacher,  "is  sufficient  for  himself. 
Every  man  must  go  out  of  himself  for  enjoy- 
ment. Something  in  this  universe  besides  him- 
self there  must  be  to  bind  the  affections  of  every 


WORLDLINESS  99 

man.  There  is  that  within  us  which  compels  us 
to  attach  ourselves  to  something  outward.  The 
choice  is  not  this,  love,  or  be  without  love.  You 
cannot  give  the  pent-up  steam  its  choice  of  mov- 
ing or  not  moving.  It  must  move  one  way  or 
the  other;  the  right  way  or  the  wrong  way.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  pent-up  energy  of  love,  gigantic  for 
good  or  evil.  Its  right  way  is  in  the  direction 
of  our  eternal  Father."  Its  wrong  way  is  in 
the  direction  of  the  world.  And  you  must  choose 
between  the  two.  Can  you  be  in  doubt,  my 
brethren,  which  it  would  be  best  for  you  to 
choose?  God  is  the  home  of  the  soul.  His  love 
is  rest  eternal.  It  is  the  only  unalloyed  satisfac- 
tion. If  you  be  without  it,  what  shall  compen- 
sate you  for  its  loss  when  the  world  has  passed 
away?  This  suggests  another  reason  for  the 
command,  viz. : — 

2.  The  transitory  character  of  all  worldly 
things.  ''The  world  passeth  away,  and  the  lust 
thereof."  Two  widely  different  things  are  re- 
ferred to  in  these  words.  One  is  that  the  world 
is  passing  away.  There  is,  indeed,  no  novelty  in 
such  a  statement;  but  it  should  be  nevertheless 
solemnly  impressive.  That  impression  comes  to 
us  most  vividly,  perhaps,  as  we  mark  the  passage 
of  epochs  and  generations.  A  visit  to  the  great 
battlefields  of  the  civil  war  reminds  us  how  fast  its 


100         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    AONE 

lines  are  fading  into  the  dim  vistas  of  the  past. 
Great  earthworks  are  well-nigh  obliterated  by  the 
leveling  plowshare,  and  the  mightiest  battlements 
are  going  down  under  the  tread  of  an  advancing 
age.  And  so  with  the  great  names  of  the  gigantic 
contest :  how  speedily  they  are  dying  away,  the 
heroes  who  bore  them  having  nearly  all  crossed 
''the  bourne  whence  no  traveler  returns."  For  a 
Httle  while  we  may  strew  flowers  on  their  graves, 
but  in  a  little  while  their  very  names  will  be  for- 
gotten by  the  multitudes  of  men. 

So  you  and  I  are  passing  away  in  like  manner. 
Churches  have  a  more  stable  life,  and  abide,  it 
may  be,  for  generations ;  but  the  people  who  wor- 
ship in  them  are  perpetually  changing.  In  a  few 
more  years  you  will  be  gone,  I  will  be  gone.  New 
voices  will  join  the  holy  services  of  the  sanctuary. 
The  world  is  changing.  Will  you  fasten  your 
love  upon  such  unstable  and  fleeting  things  ? 

But  faster  than  all  this  are  the  lusts  of  the 
world  passing  away.  The  world's  power  to  excite 
desire  is  disappearing  more  rapidly  than  is  the 
world  itself.  You  can  recall  multiplied  illustra- 
tions of  this  truth.  The  rich  man  sits  at  his 
window  and  overlooks  a  grand  estate,  but  failing 
sight  shuts  out  the  prospect,  and  aching  bones 
confine  him  to  his  own  room.  He  is  a  prisoner  in 
a    palace.      Desire    has    failed.      The    sensualist 


WORLDLINESS  loi 

dreams  of  joys  for  which  all  capacity  has  wasted. 
The  miser  sits  on  his  money-bags  and  starves. 
The  faded  beauty,  wasting  with  disease,  puts  on 
her  gorgeous  robes  and  sits  languidly  toying  with 
her  jewels.  But  they  are  soon  put  aside  as  un- 
satisfying. And  the  weary  soul  gathers  herself 
up  for  the  last  great  dreaded  journey.  Desire  has 
failed !  The  world  is  passing  away  and  the  lusts 
thereof.  Will  you,  my  friends,  choose  and  love 
these  things  ?     Is  there  nothing  higher  and  better  ? 

This  brings  up  the  last  reason  for  the  command, 
viz. : — 

3.  The  only  enduring  thing  is  Christian  activ- 
ity. ''He  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for 
ever."  Here,  also,  two  things  deserve  attention. 
First,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  thing  spoken  of 
is  not  feeling,  but  doing.  Right  feelings,  gener- 
ous impulses,  and  highly-wrought  emotions  are 
not  to  be  despised ;  but  they  are  of  little  worth  if 
they  are  permitted  to  find  their  chief  end  in  them- 
selves. Action  is  ever  the  justly  expected  end  of 
right  feeling.  "He  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  for  ever." 

Second,  it  must  be  observed  that  it  is  the  doer, 
and  not  the  thing  done,  that  abideth  forever.  We 
work  with  perishable  materials,  and  they  soon  pass 
away.  Churches  and  institutions  burn  up  and 
disappear.  The  tides  of  population  drift  away 
8 


102         NEW    SHAFTS    IX    THE    OLD    MINE 

from  the  places  of  worship.  They  stand  on  lonely 
hilltops  in  country  places,  or  on  city  streets  are 
transformed  into  business  houses,  places  of  amuse- 
ment, or  even  devil's  dens.  Representing  years  of 
toil  they  cannot  abide.  The  labor  and  time  and 
prayer  spent  upon  them  seem  often  but  wasted 
powers.  They  pass  away.  With  unceasing  dili- 
gence and  patience  the  man  of  God  may  spend  a 
lifetime  in  gathering  a  congregation  of  Christian 
people;  and  before  his  mortal  remains  have 
moldered  back  to  dust,  they  are  scattered  to  the 
four  winds,  and  the  holy  and  beautiful  house 
where  they  worshiped  has  perished  from  among 
men.  The  faithful  teacher  has  collected  a  company 
of  scholars,  and  taught  them  the  right  way,  and 
been  permitted  to  rejoice  in  seeing  many  of  them 
profess  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  but  even  while 
she  has  prayed  and  wrought,  disintegrating  ele- 
ments have  been  at  work,  and  all  her  labor  seems 
to  go  for  nought.  Even  the  noblest  work  we  do 
among  men  has  no  permanence  here  below.  There 
is  nothing  here  abiding.  Nothing?  Yes!  There 
is  something  that  can  never  perish.  "He  that 
doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever." 


THE  TWO  PRAYERS 


THE  TWO  PRAYERS 

Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan  asked  to  have  you,  that  he 
might  sift  you  as  wheat:  but  I  made  suppHcation  for  thee, 
that  thy  faith  fail  not.— Luke  xxii :  31,  32. 

In  one  of  the  visions  of  Zechariah  a  scene  is 
unfolded  of  great  interest  and  comfort  to  the  tried 
and  tempted  beHever.  Joshua,  the  son  of  Jose- 
dech,  the  high  priest  of  Israel  upon  their  return 
from  Babylon,  is  represented  as  standing  before 
the  angel  of  the  Lord,  the  subject  of  controversy 
between  the  powers  of  light  and  of  darkness. 

On  the  one  hand  Satan  appears,  as  he  ever  is, 
''the  accuser  of  the  brethren,"  to  ''resist  him"  or, 
as  from  the  context  it  evidently  signifies,  to  dis- 
courage him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  by  an 
overwhelming  view  of  his  great  sinfulness,  if  so 
by  any  means  he  may  drive  him  into  despair. 

But,  in  opposition  to  the  insinuations  of  the 
great  adversary,  the  Lord  Himself  stands  forth  as 
the  advocate  of  His  servant,  saying,  "Jehovah  re- 
buke thee,  O  Satan ;  Yea,  Jehovah  that  hath  chosen 
Jerusalem  rebuke  thee:  is  not  this  a  brand 
plucked  out  of  the  fire  ?"  And  then,  in  the  exercise 
of  His  free  and  sovereign  grace,  He  directs  those 
that  stand  before  Him  to  take  away  from  Joshua 

105 


io6         NEW    SHAFTS    IN   THE   OLD    MINE 

the  filthy  garments  and  to  clothe  him  with  change 
of  raiment,  a  typical  representation  of  that  which 
the  Lord  immediately  adds :  ''Behold,  I  have 
caused  thine  iniquity  to  pass  from  thee." 

Thus  the  controversy  is  ended;  the  ''accuser  of 
the  brethren"  is  discomfited.  And  the  vision 
closes  with  a  view  of  the  angel  of  the  Lord  stand- 
ing by  the  triumphant  advocate  of  His  servant. 

The  text  introduces  us  to  a  similar  scene.  Ln- 
mediately  upon  their  coming  together  in  the 
"upper  room"  the  disciples  engage  in  an  unseemly 
strife,  beginning,  perhaps,  in  their  choices  of  places 
at  the  table,  concerning  the  leadership — who  of 
them  should  be  accounted  the  greatest.  It  is 
probable  that  Peter,  with  his  usual  impetuosity, 
was  most  prominent  in  the  wrangle.  The  occa- 
sion, therefore,  led  our  Lord  to  give  all  of  them, 
and  especially  Peter,  this  final  and  solemn  warn- 
ing against  the  wiles  of  the  Devil. 

The  language  He  uses  is  peculiar  and  notable. 
As  the  Authorized  Version  has  it,  the  Lord  says, 
"Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan  hath  desired  to 
have  you."  The  Revision  reads,  "Satan  asked  to 
have  you,  that  he  might  sift  you  as  wheat." 

The  scene,  then,  reveals  these  three  prominent 
characters.  First  of  all,  we  see  Peter  standing 
forth  in  the  midst,  as  Joshua  in  the  vision  of  the 
prophet.     On  the  one  hand  is  Satan,  the  adver- 


THE    TWO    PRAYERS  107 

sary,  praying  for  the  opportunity  to  sift  him  as 
wheat.  On  the  other  hand  we  see  Jesus,  the  great 
advocate,  praying  for  him,  that  his  faith  fail  not. 
The  examination  of  these  two  prayers  is  our  pres- 
ent theme. 

I.     The  Prayer  of  Satan 

"Satan  asked  to  have  you,  that  he  might  sift 
you  as  wheat."  As  the  margin  of  the  Revised 
Version  reads,  ''Obtained  you  by  asking,"  that  you 
might  be  put  into  his  hands,  to  be  tossed  to  and 
fro  and  disturbed  by  all  his  malicious  perse- 
cutions. 

I.  The  spirit  prompting  such  a  prayer  deserves 
attention.  The  Old  Testament  furnishes  a  parallel 
case  that  will  throw  light  upon  the  text.  ''Jehovah 
said  unto  Satan,  Hast  thou  considered  My  servant 
Job?  for  there  is  none  like  him  in  the  earth,  a 
perfect  and  an  upright  man,  one  that  feareth  God, 
and  turneth  aw^ay  from  evil.  Then  Satan 
answered  Jehovah,  and  said.  Doth  Job  fear  God 
for  nought?  Hast  not  Thou  made  a  hedge 
about  him,  and  about  his  house,  and  about  all  that 
he  hath,  on  every  side?  Thou  hast  blessed  the 
work  of  his  hands,  and  his  substance  is  increased 
in  the  land.  But  put  forth  Thy  hand  now,  and 
touch  all  that  he  hath,  and  he  will  renounce  Thee 
to  Thy  face." 


io8         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

The  spirit  of  this  charge  of  the  Devil  is  evident. 
Satan  would  say :  ''Job  has  no  true  religion.  He 
is  only  a  hypocrite.  He  serves  God,  not  because 
he  loves  Him,  but  because  he  sees  that  it  is  profit- 
able to  do  so.  But  put  him  to  the  test.  Take 
away  his  property  and  reduce  him  to  poverty. 
And  the  result  will  show  that  with  the  loss  of  his 
wealth  his  pretended  piety  will  vanish  in  like 
manner." 

It  is  just  such  a  spirit  as  this  that  prompts  the 
prayer  of  the  Devil  in  the  text.  There  seems  to 
underlie  the  words  that  are  spoken  this  thought: 
''These  disciples  are  only  acting  the  hypocrite. 
They  are  not  serving  God  from  pure  motives,  but 
sinful  ones;  it  may  be  ambition,  of  which  their 
recent  strife  at  the  paschal  feast  is  an  evidence. 
But  let  me  have  possession  of  them,  to  sift  them, 
and  the  issue  will  show  that  what  seems  to  be 
wheat  is  only  the  worthless  chaff." 

This  is  probably  the  real  animus  of  this  satanic 
prayer.  And  it  is  a  prayer  worthy  its  origin. 
Satan  is  a  liar  from  the  beginning,  and  the  truth 
is  not  in  him.  He  is  always  bringing  charges 
against  the  people  of  God.  Having  no  pure 
motives  himself,  he  is  ever  impugning  the  motives 
and  questioning  the  sincerity  of  those  who  do 
serve  God  and  follow  Christ.  And  it  is  one  of 
the  saddest  proofs  of  human  depravity  that  in  this 


THE     TWO    PRAYERS  109 

respect  he  has  only  too  many  followers  among 
men. 

2.  Again,  the  object  of  this  prayer  of  the  Devil 
deserves  examination.  A  faithful  God  Himself 
oftentimes  puts  His  people  into  purifying  proc- 
esses, called  sometimes  the  washing  of  water, 
sometimes  the  burning  of  fire,  and  sometimes  the 
sifting  or  winnowing  of  the  threshing-floor.  In 
every  such  case,  however,  whatever  be  the  figure 
used,  the  object  to  be  gained  is  the  same;  that  is, 
the  refining  of  the  gold,  or  the  separating  of  the 
wheat  from  the  chaff. 

This  is  not  the  object  for  which  the  Devil  prays. 
His  crafty  design  is  threefold  :  (  i )  As  has  been 
said  already,  he  sometimes  seeks  to  call  in  ques- 
tion the  existence  of  true  piety — to  show  that  all 
the  apparent  wheat  is  chaff  and  nothing  else.  (2) 
At  other  times,  he  desires  to  subject  the  believer  to 
such  a  state  of  painful  doubt  and  perplexity,  "to 
so  toss  him  to  and  fro,  as  wheat  is  tossed  in  the 
sieve,  that  anything  like  settled  faith  may  be- 
come an  impossibility."  (3)  And  then  at  all 
times  he  seeks  the  complete  destruction  of  the 
faith  of  God's  people.  That  this  is  the  great  end 
aimed  at  by  the  enemy  of  souls  is  evident  from 
the  counter  prayer  of  our  blessed  Saviour.  He 
says  to  Peter :  'T  made  supplication  for  thee,  that 
thy  faith  fail  not." 


no         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

This  is  the  form  of  attack  that  has  always  been 
resorted  to  by  the  great  adversary.  With  all  his 
great  experience,  and  almost  infinite  subtlety  and 
cunning,  all  the  assaults  of  Satan  do  evermore 
show  this  cloven  foot,  that  he  seeks  a  destruction 
of  our  faith.  In  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  no  less 
in  the  temptation  of  Christ,  this  unconcealed  and 
unconcealable  mark  of  the  Tempter's  presence  is  to 
be  found.  He  seeks  to  overturn  the  foundations 
of  our  faith  in  God. 

May  we  not  pause  here  a  moment  to  note  into 
what  dark  shadows  this  view  of  the  subject  throws 
that  sin  which,  it  may  be,  some  of  us  esteem  a 
trifling  thing;  that  is,  the  sin  of  unbelief?  We 
are  possibly  not  conscious  of  any  great  ill-desert, 
because  we  live  in  the  daily  commission  of  it.  And 
yet  the  story  of  Eden,  and  the  temptation  of 
Christ,  the  fall  of  the  believer,  and  the  ruin  of 
the  soul,  are  standing  memorials  of  the  fact  that 
unbelief  is  the  damning  sin.  Through  it  Satan 
ruined  the  human  family  in  Adam;  and  it  re- 
mains to  this  day,  and  ever  shall  remain,  the 
corner  stone  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness.  But 
w^ith  some  of  us  being  guilty  of  it  gives  us  no 
special  concern.  On  the  contrary,  it  may  be  we 
are  building  ourselves  up  in  a  complacent  pride, 
because,  forsooth,  w^e  have  not  committed  some 
of    the    sins    which    in    their    most    aggravated 


THE    TWO    PRAYERS  in 

character  are  only  outgrowths  of  the  sin  of 
unbehef. 

3.  Again,  the  manner  in  which  Satan  seeks  to 
have  his  prayer  accomphshed  deserves  attention. 
When  we  remember  that  these  words  were  uttered 
by  our  Lord  immediately  after  the  dispute  about 
the  supreme  place,  we  shall  wisely  look  to  that  con- 
troversy for  the  fulfillment  of  the  prayer  of  Satan. 

He  desired  to  have  all  the  disciples  that  he  might 
sift  them  as  wheat.  And  the  way  in  which  he 
proposed  to  do  this  was  by  awakening  in  their 
hearts  that  pride  which  always  goes  before  de- 
struction. So,  therefore,  blinding  their  minds  to 
the  spiritual  nature  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom, 
and  fixing  their  attention  upon  a  carnal  concep- 
tion of  that  kingdom  as  an  earthly  and  temporal 
sovereignty,  he  endeavored  to  arouse  among  them 
a  fierce  contention  as  to  which  of  them  should 
have  the  highest  place  in  that  kingdom. 

We  should  be  indeed  ignorant  of  Satan's  de- 
vices if  we  did  not  recognize  in  this  process  the 
footprints  of  the  old  serpent,  the  Devil,  and  enemy 
of  our  souls.  The  same  course  was  pursued  by 
him  in  the  three  great  instances  of  temptation,  of 
which  the  word  of  God  gives  us  any  knowledge — 
the  cases  of  Adam  and  Job  and  Christ.  In  the 
first,  there  was  an  appeal  to  the  pride  of  knowl- 
edge: "Ye  shall  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and 


112         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

evil."  In  the  second,  the  appeal  was  to  the  pride 
of  position  and  prosperity :  "Touch  all  that  he 
hath,  and  he  will  renounce  Thee  to  Thy  face."  In 
the  third,  it  was  an  appeal  to  the  pride  of  domin- 
ion:  "All  these  things  will  I  give  Thee,  if  Thou 
wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me." 

In  the  same  way  is  the  Devil  always  seeking  to 
compass  the  overthrow  of  the  souls  of  men. 
It  is  because  of  the  pride  of  his  countenance 
that  the  wicked  will  not  seek  after  God.  The 
rock  of  offense  over  which  multitudes  of  un- 
converted men  are  stumbling  into  hell  is  the 
pride  of  an  unsubdued  heart.  Hence  it  is  that 
they  will  not  submit  themselves  unto  the  right- 
eousness of  God,  and  are  evermore  going 
about  to  establish  a  righteousness  of  their  own, 
which  can  never  hide  their  shame. 

The  same  temptation  also  besets  the  people 
of  God.  The  greater  part  of  our  spiritual  dark- 
ness and  soul  troubles,  as  well  as  declensions 
and  backslidings,  arises  from  a  pride  of  heart 
that  does  not  rest  satisfied  w^ith  Christ  and  His 
finished  work,  or  that  leads  to  self-confidence 
and  self-sufficiency.  Humility  is  the  chief  adorn- 
ment of  the  Christian  character;  and  well  does 
this  Peter,  foremost  now  in  the  strife  for  great- 
ness, exhort  us  to  "be  clothed  with  humility." 
As  a  garment  let  it  cover  all  the  other  graces  of 


THE    TWO    PRAYERS  113. 

the   divine   life,    while   it   ever    adds   new    lustre 
to  each  of  them. 

This  is  the  prayer  of  Satan.  This  is  the  spirit 
that  prompted  it,  the  object  for  which  it  was 
offered,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  desired  end 
was  to  be  obtained.  In  all  its  features  the  prayer 
bears  the  unmistakable  marks  of  its  infernal 
origin.  It  is  a  petition  in  the  very  line  of  that 
course  which  he  always  pursues  in  compassing 
the  ruin  of  men.  It  was  a  prayer  worthy  the 
one  who  prays,  and  inevitably  leading,  if  fully 
answered,  to  the  spiritual  ruin  of  the  chosen 
twelve.  And  the  prayer  was  answered  in  the 
letter,  but  the  disastrous  results  aimed  at  by  its 
spirit  were  averted  and  overruled  by  Him,  who 
spoiled  principalities  and  powers,  making  a 
show  of  them  openly,  and  triumphing  over  them 
in  His  cross ! 

11.     The  Prayer  of  Christ 

'T  made  supplication  for  thee,  that  thy  faith 
fail  not."  In  this  petition  of  our  blessed  Lord 
the  veil  is  partially  lifted  that  covers  the  unseen 
world;  and  we  obtain  a  momentary  view  of  the 
great  spiritual  conflict  going  on  between  the 
Lord  of  Life  and  Glory,  and  the  Prince  of  Dark- 
ness. 


114         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

I.  In  this  prayer  of  Christ  we  recognize  the 
pecuHarly  tender  and  gracious  love  of  our  great 
Advocate.  We  specially  note  this  characteris- 
tic of  it,  that  it  is  always  most  displayed  to  those 
v^ho  need  it  most.  The  Lord  Jesus  was  about 
finishing  His  work  of  humiliation  and  atone- 
ment. The  shadows  of  the  Garden  and  the  Cross 
were  rapidly  gathering  around  Him.  He  fore- 
saw the  powerful  temptations  about  to  assail  His 
chosen  disciples.  He  knew  how  complete 
would  be  their  disappointment,  and  overwhelm- 
ing their  sorrow  when  they  should  see  their 
Master,  not  riding  in  triumph,  the  acknowl- 
edged Prince  and  Saviour  of  Israel,  but  led  as  a 
malefactor  to  the  shameful  death  of  the  cross. 

He  foresaw  the  special  danger  about  to  assail 
that  beloved  Peter,  bold,  impetuous,  and  un- 
stable, and  yet  warm-hearted, — a  true  friend 
and  genuine  disciple  with  all  his  faults  and  short- 
comings. And  while  he  w^as  protesting  against 
the  imputation  of  a  possible  forsaking  of  Christ 
and  declaring  his  readiness  to  go  with  his  Lord 
to  prison  and  even  to  death,  all  the  sad  steps  of 
his  declension  and  denial  were  before  the  mind  of 
Jesus  who  loved  him  still. 

Doubtless  while  Peter  was  proclaiming  his  de- 
votion to  His  person  and  service  the  Lord  foresaw 
the  pathetic  scenes  of  that  thrice-repeated  denial, 


THE    TWO    PRAYERS  115 

His  own  look  of  compassion,  and  the  going  out 
to  weep  bitterly  over  the  hasty  sin.  He  saw  it  all, 
and  yet  He  did  not  withdraw  His  love  from  one 
who  needed  it  now  more  than  ever.  In  all  fidelity 
He  warned  the  impulsive  apostle,  but  in  infinite 
tenderness  He  gave  him  also  this  sweet  assurance 
that  He  was  praying  for  him  to  be  a  precious  com- 
fort in  the  time  of  darkness  w4iich  before  another 
morning's  light  should  settle  down  upon  his  spirit. 
*'I  made  supplication  for  thee."  ''I,  the  King  of 
Glory,  the  appointed  Mediator,  the  glorious  and 
ever  prevalent  Intercessor,  I  have  prayed  for  thee." 

2.  Again,  let  us  observe  the  personal  character 
of  this  prayer  of  Christ.  He  says,  "Satan  asked 
to  have  you."  A  reference  to  the  original,  shows 
that  the  term  "you"  is  in  the  plural  number.  It 
is  evident,  therefore,  that  while  the  remark  was 
addressed  particularly  to  Simon,  our  Lord  would 
warn  all  of  them  that  they  were  all  aimed  at  by 
their  sworn  enemy  and  accuser. 

Then,  having  given  this  general  admonition,  He 
immediately  turns  to  Peter,  and  knowing  his 
special  danger  He  gives  him  this  special  assurance  : 
''I  made  supplication  for  thee."  The  personal 
character  of  the  prayer,  then,  is  noteworthy.  They 
were  all  in  danger,  but  Peter  most  of  all.  There- 
fore does  the  Saviour  mention  him  with  a  special 
and  exceedingly  tender  emphasis — "for  thee." 


ii6         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

In  like  manner  our  Advocate  with  the  Father, 
with  an  omniscient  eye,  surveys  His  wide  domin- 
ion and  sees  always  the  countless  malicious  plot- 
tings  of  the  Adversary.  No  less  faithful  now 
than  in  His  humiliation  He  warns  all  His  believing- 
children  against  the  wnles  of  the  devil.  And  with 
equal  tenderness  He  remembers  in  special  inter- 
cession all  His  tried  and  tempted  children.  It  is 
then  our  peculiar  comfort  that  if  we  have  unusual 
temptations  we  are  blessed  above  the  common  lot 
of  our  brethren,  seeing  our  cases  are  more  fre- 
quently and  in  prevailing  power  ever  examined 
and  cared  for  by  our  great  Advocate.  No  wonder 
then  that  the  apostle  James  says,  "Count  it  all  joy, 
my  brethren,  when  ye  fall  into  manifold  tempta- 
tions." For  whether  they  be  the  seductions  of 
Satan,  or  the  trials  of  life,  they  secure  for  us  a 
peculiar  interest  in  the  loving  and  mighty  inter- 
cessions of  our  Lord. 

3.  There  is  yet  another  feature  of  this  prayer 
of  Christ  that  is  worthy  our  examination.  I  have 
said  that  here  are  two  great  opposing  forces,  but 
you  will  observe  they  do  not  come  squarely  and 
directly  into  collision.  No  doubt  our  Lord  could 
have  met  and  conquered  the  enemy  in  this  way  or 
in  any  way.  But  just  because  He  is  master  of  the 
situation  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  has  chosen 
to  meet  the  Adversary  in  an  indirect  way  that 


THE   TWO    PRAYERS  117 

shall  only  the  more  clearly  illustrate  His  power 
and  glory — in  this  spiritual  warfare  a  sort  of 
divine  strategy — out-flanking  the  enemy,  and 
driving  him  in  an  inglorious  defeat  from  the  field. 

Satan  prays,  "Let  me  have  these  disciples  that 
I  may  sift  them  as  wheat."  The  Saviour  assures 
Peter,  *T  made  supplication  for  thee,  that  thy  faith 
fail  not."  You  will  mark  the  point — He  prays 
not  that  they  might  not  be  sifted,  but  that  their 
faith  should  not  fail.  The  very  point  at  which 
Satan  aims,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  destruction  of 
faith.  The  way  in  which  this  is  to  be  accom- 
plished is  by  the  tossing  and  sifting. 

But  our  Redeemer  understands  His  enemy. 
Like  a  skillful  military  commander  He  guards 
with  unceasing  vigilance  just  that  point  which 
with  divers  feints  and  countermarches  the  wily 
Adversary  seeks  to  possess.  With  our  short- 
sightedness and  weakness,  like  the  private  in  the 
ranks,  we  long  most  of  all  to  be  free  from  the  sift- 
ing —  the  harassments  of  the  enemy.  But  the 
Commander,  though  tenderly  alive  to  the  comfort 
of  His  men,  cares  more  for  their  welfare  than 
for  their  comfort. 

But  if  faith  be  gone  the  cause  is  lost  and  our 

great  Captain  is  defeated.     And  so  long  as  faith 

fails   not,   the   Devil    may   rage  and   rave  as  he 

please,  but  after  all  he  is  only  a  conquered  foe. 

9 


ii8        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

Well  may  our  Lord  say,  then,  of  the  Accuser — 
Let  his  prayer  be  granted  so  far.  Let  him  sift 
My  people.  He  will  not  prove  them  to  be  only 
chaff.  But  he  will,  through  My  overruling 
providence,  separate  the  chaff  from  the  wheat. 
So,  even  while  seeking  to  overcome  Me,  he  shall 
furnish  the  most  incontestible  evidence  that  he  is 
My  servant,  and  is  unwilling,  and  even  unwit- 
tingly doing  My  will — for  all  things  are  put 
under  My  feet. 

This  is  Satan's  desire,  to  overthrow  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Saviour's  disciples.  His  petition  is 
granted  so  far  as  the  making  trial  of  them.  They 
are  often  sifted  as  wheat.  But  the  ''Devil's  sieve 
:and  the  Lord's  fan,"  says  an  old  and  quaint  writer, 
"work  in  the  same  way."  The  Lord's  "fan  is  in 
IHis  hand,  and  He  thoroughly  purges  His  floor." 
The  chaff  is  blowm  away,  while  the  plump  ripe 
grain  lies  on  the  garner  floor.  In  the  other  case 
the  Devil  shakes  the  sieve  and  gets  the  chaff  for 
his  pains;  the  wheat  falls  through,  and  is  safely 
gathered  on  the  garner  floor.  But  the  sifting  is 
not  pleasant.  Believers  are  often  sorely  tried 
and  tempted ;  and  sometimes  they  may  think  them- 
selves that  the  foundations  are  gone.  Satan  so 
tosses  them  about  that  they  often  for  long  seasons 
together  have  no  peace ;  and  in  the  turmoil  of  the 
hour  everything  appears  shifting  and  changeful. 


THE    TWO    PRAYERS  119 

Even  the  unchanging  love  of  Christ  seems  for 
the  time  as  fluctuating  as  their  own  experiences. 
But  faith  fails  not.  Like  an  anchor  it  still  holds; 
and,  though  the  waves  run  mountain  high,  the 
vessel  rides  securely  in  the  storm. 

The  best  commentary  upon  this  passage  is  the 
experience  of  Job.  We  are  expressly  told  that 
the  object  of  Satan  was  to  destroy  the  confi- 
dence of  the  patriarch  in  God.  His  request  for 
an  opportunity  to  sift  him  was  granted;  and  the 
wearisome  days  and  nights  appointed  Job,  are 
a  proof  that  the  most  was  made  of  the  oppor- 
tunity. But  though  the  very  citadel  of  strength 
was  assailed,  the  faith  of  the  patriarch  was  not 
entirely  eclipsed.  In  the  very  furnace  of  purify- 
ing he  cries,  "When  He  hath  tried  me,  I  shall 
come  forth  as  gold." 

And  such  was  the  blessed  result.  He  main- 
tained his  integrity  because  his  faith  in  God  did 
not  utterly  fail :  and  his  latter  end  was  better 
than  the  beginning,  and  exceedingly  rich  in 
blessing. 

To  a  similar  blessed  result  as  being  the  direct 
consequence  of  the  Saviour's  prayer,  we  are  in- 
troduced in  the  sequel  of  the  text.  As  we  glance 
forward  from  this  Thursday  night,  when  the 
text  was  spoken  to  the  resurrection  Sabbath, 
we   see   the  terrible   sifting  process  going  on, 


120        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

and  faith  as  well,  almost  hopelessly  eclipsed, 
still  clinging  to  that  Saviour  soon  and  evermore 
to  be  known  as  The  Crucified ! 

First  we  see  Peter,  the  now  bold  confessor, 
cowering  in  base  and  vehement  denial  of  that 
dear  Lord,  Whose  mournful  and  reproachful 
look  sends  him  to  the  bitter  weeping  of  the 
outer  darkness  beyond  the  palace.  Then  our 
imagination  may  not  improperly  picture  the 
peculiar  dejection  of  the  fallen  disciple  as  he 
passed  the  long  and  dreary  hours,  pondering  the 
special  aggravations  of  his  sin,  and  doubtless 
wondering  if  it  were  not  a  sin  beyond  the  hope 
of  forgiveness. 

And  now  his  recovery  begins !  The  risen 
Lord  sends  by  the  mouth  of  the  angel  and  the 
faithful  women,  that  remarkable  message:  ''Go, 
tell  My  disciples  and  Peter !  Be  sure  you  tell  Peter 
that  I  am  risen  again  for  his  justification." 
The  fallen  and  despondent  apostle  receives  the 
message  no  doubt  with  gladness.  The  day- 
spring  from  on  high  revisits  him.  And  his  faith, 
never  wholly  destroyed,  henceforth  shines  out 
like  the  burnished  gold,  brilliant  evermore  for 
the  purifying  of  the  fires. 

Thus  the  prayer  of  the  Adversary,  for  a  time 
apparently  answered,  is  really  and  forever 
denied;  and  the  Saviour's  request,  at  the  first 


THE   TWO    PRAYERS  121 

seemingly  overborne  by  the  solicitations  of  the 
enemy,  is  at  last  fully  heard  and  granted.  The 
Advocate  is  victor  over  the  Accuser;  and  the 
child  of  God  is  saved.  This  is  the  true  perse- 
verance of  the  saints.  We  hold  on  our  way, 
not  because  of  our  inherent  strength,  but  be- 
cause we  **by  the  power  of  God  are  guarded 
through  faith  unto  a  salvation  ready  to  be  re- 
vealed in  the  last  time." 


THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 


THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 

O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith :  be  it  done  unto  thee  even 
as  thou  wilt. — Matthew  xv  :  28. 

Nations  celebrate  with  rejoicing  the  victories 
which  attend  their  arms.  Especially  do  men 
take  delight  in  successes  which  are  gained  in 
the  face  of  apparently  insuperable  difficulties. 
Where  the  cause  we  love  is  contending  with 
superior  forces  and  new  obstacles  spring  up  in 
the  crisis  of  the  conflict,  we  are  tortured  with 
suspense,  and  filled  with  forebodings  respecting 
the  issue;  and  relief  comes  to  us  only  when  the 
result  is  known,  and  gladness  thrills  our  entire 
being  when  we  see  victory  perching  upon  our 
banners. 

We  have  the  same  feeling  of  rejoicing  as  we 
mark  the  less  observed  but  more  important 
struggles  and  triumphs  which  are  ever  taking 
place  in  the  realms  of  spiritual  being.  It  is  im- 
possible for  a  Christian  not  to  rejoice  in  the  suc- 
cess of  his  brethren  in  the  vicissitudes  of  reli- 
gious experience.  When  we  see  a  soul  engaged 
in  earnest  combat,  environed  with  difficulties, 
with  the  tide  of  battle  setting  strongly  against 
his   prospects,   yet  in   the   moment   of  decision 

125 


126         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

snatching  victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat  and 
unexpectedly  carrying  off  the  laurel  wreath,  we 
cannot  but  join  his  song  of  rejoicing. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  are  to 
study  the  story  of  the  woman  of  Canaan,  the 
crowning  words  of  which  are  given  in  the  text. 
The  incident  here  recorded  of  her  is  a  grand 
contest  upon  the  high  grounds  of  the  life  of 
faith.  It  w^as  a  struggle  between  vastly  unequal 
forces.  On  the  one  side  is  arrayed  the  omnipo- 
tence of  the  God-man,  and  on  the  other  the  sim- 
ple faith  of  the  woman  of  Syrophoenicia.  And 
the  result  is  preeminently  the  victory  of  faith. 
Very  few  such  contests  resulting  in  such  a 
triumph  are  written  in  the  records  of  the  spirit- 
ual life.     For  our  sakes  is  this  one  written. 

I  do  not  need  to  remind  you  of  that  other 
contest,  far  back  in  the  shadows  of  the  patri- 
archal age,  in  w^hich  Jacob  wrestled  with  the 
angel  at  Peniel,  and,  disabled  in  the  strife,  still 
clung  to  his  divine  opponent  with  the  watch- 
word of  victory  upon  his  failing  lips,  ''I  will  not 
let  Thee  go,  except  Thou  bless  me."  The  points 
of  similarity  in  the  two  cases  are  not  many  but 
striking.  We  think  of  the  one  in  reading  of 
the  other.  They  w^ere  both  contests  between 
human  and  divine  forces.  The  current  of  bat- 
tle  seemed  to  be  running  against  the  weaker 


THE   VICTORY    OF    FAITH  127 

side.  And  yet,  in  both  cases,  on  the  turn  of  the 
crisis,  defeat  is  changed  to  victory  and  the  bugle 
that  was  prepared  to  sound  the  dirge  of  the 
fallen,  now  celebrates  in  joyous  strains  the  vic- 
tory of  the  vanquished.  Jacob  is  called 
"Israel"  in  memory  of  his  triumph  because  as 
a  prince  he  had  had  power  with  God  and  with 
men,  and  had  prevailed.  And  the  woman  of 
Canaan  by  her  faith  exhibits  the  patent  of 
nobility  in  the  true  Israel  of  God,  though  not  of 
Israel  according  to  the  flesh. 

In  order  to  gain  the  most  vivid  conception  of 
this  victory  of  faith,  let  us  mark  the  successive 
stages  of  the  combat  and  dwell  upon  the  tactics 
and  manoeuvres  displayed  on  either  side.  Here 
we  shall  see  generalship  of  the  highest  order. 

Our  attention  is  arrested, 

I.  By   the   Opening   Scene — The   Entreaty 
AND  Its  Indifferent  Reception 

The  Lord  Jesus,  being  driven  from  among 
His  own  countrymen,  traveled  northward  and 
came  into  the  region  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  It 
was  probably  the  only  time  He  visited  that  part 
of  the  country,  and  the  tour  seems  to  have  been 
undertaken  mainly  to  escape  from  the  enmity 
and  persecution  of  the  unbelieving  Jews.  This 


128        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

woman  of  Canaan  was  greatly  afflicted.  Her 
daughter  was  grievously  vexed  with  a  demon. 
Hearing  of  the  approach  of  the  Christ,  she  re- 
solved to  do  what  every  burdened  soul  ought 
and  is  welcome  to  do,  to  go  to  Jesus  with  her 
trouble  in  the  undoubting  confidence  that  He 
could  and  would  help  her. 

It  did  not  matter  to  her  that  she  belonged  to 
the  alien  race  of  Canaanites,  or  that  the  ministry 
of  Jesus  had  been  confined  to  Israel ;  still  she 
would  go  to  Him,  believing  that  He  would  not 
turn  her  empty  away.  So  she  came,  with  the 
language  of  urgent  entreaty,  "Have  mercy  on 
me,  O  Lord,  Thou  son  of  David."  She  identi- 
fies herself  with  her  daughter.  Healing  power 
to  the  child  is  mercy  to  the  anxious  mother — 
^'Have  mercy  on  ME." 

She  recognizes  also,  in  the  lowly  person  be- 
fore her  ''the  hope  of  Israel,  the  Saviour  thereof 
in  the  time  of  trouble."  The  expectations  of 
the  Jews  respecting  the  Messiah  were  widely 
known  among  neighboring  nations.  In  the 
common  and  familiar  language  of  that  time  He 
was  called  ''The  son  of  David."  In  the  very 
address  of  the  woman,  therefore,  we  discover 
the  germ  of  that  faith  which  is  soon  to  be  so 
sorely  tried  and  which  is  to  come  forth  at  last  as 
the  burnished  gold. 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  129 

Her  hopes  of  assistance  do  not  rest  upon  her 
confidence  in  Christ  Jesus  as  a  man,  merciful 
and  powerful  to  help  the  helpless,  but  upon  His 
character  and  position  as  the  long-promised 
Redeemer,  who  was  to  comfort  those  that 
mourned,  and  to  loosen  those  that  were  bound. 
Her  home  was  not  among  the  people  blessed 
with  the  Messianic  promise.  She  had  had  no 
opportunity  of  accompanying  the  Lord,  and  of 
hearing  His  words  of  wondrous  wisdom,  and  of 
witnessing  His  matchless  miracles  of  power  and 
grace.  But  in  some  way  she  had  come  to  be- 
lieve in  Him,  to  believe  in  His  divine  character, 
in  His  mission  of  redemption,  and  in  His 
sovereignty  over  all  the  ills  of  life.  She  had 
faith  in  Him;  and  therefore  came  in  the  time  of 
extremity,  the  hour  of  gracious  visitation,  and 
cried,  "Have  mercy  on  me,  O  Lord,  Thou  son  of 
David." 

But  He  "answered  her  not  a  word."  And  now 
the  contest  begins.  On  the  one  side  is  the 
urgency  of  a  great  need  pressing  on  to  decisive 
action,  and  on  the  other  an  apparently  cold  and 
chilling  indifference.  Can  this  be  the  Saviour 
Who,  more  kind  than  the  multitude,  would  stop 
on  the  way  to  heal  the  blind  Bartimaeus;  Who, 
more  tender  and  regardful  of  a  parent's  heart 
than  His  own  disciples,  would  bid  the  children 


130         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

come  to  His  knees  for  His  benediction?  Is  this 
the  Saviour,  Who  now  passes  by  the  cry  of  the 
needy,  with  ears  entirely  deaf  to  the  urgent 
entreaty  for  the  help  which  He  can  render  and 
has  rendered  before  in  cases  far  less  distressing 
than  this  of  the  woman  of  Canaan?  Where  now 
is  her  faith?  Does  it  waver  and  die  away  in  the 
bitterness  of  this  first  great  disappointment? 
The  sequel  will  show.  In  the  meantime,  con- 
sider 

11.     Another   Stage   of    the    Contest  :    the 

Pleading  of  the  Disciples,  and  the 

Discouraging  Reply 

The  scene  here  presented  is  worthy  the  pro- 
foundest  examination.  The  first  glance  seems 
to  show  the  Lord's  disciples  more  alive  to  the 
cry  of  the  afflicted  than  He,  whose  every  heart- 
string  vibrated  in  keenest  sympathy  with  the 
woes  of  men.  They  came  to  Him  in  her  be- 
half and  said,  "Send  her  away;  for  she  crieth 
after  us."  Their  words  are,  indeed,  in  them- 
selves somewhat  ambiguous,  as  though  they 
would  not  presume  to  dictate  to  the  Saviour  the 
manner  in  which  she  shall  be  dismissed.  And 
an  uncharitable  spirit  might  have  surmised  that 
they  desired  to  be  rid  of  the  annoyance.  But  our 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  131 

Lord's  reply  shows  how  He  interpreted  their 
words,  and  that  they  united  their  petition  with 
hers  for  mercy  to  the  afflicted  daughter. 

Are  they,  then,  more  merciful  than  the  Christ? 
Can  the  woman  of  Canaan  believe  that,  having 
met  her  own  entreaty  with  indifiference,  this 
Redeemer  and  ''Friend  of  sinners"  will  now  be 
outdone  by  His  own  followers,  and  refuse  to 
them  also  their  urgent  request?  If  such 
thoughts  occupied  her  mind,  she  gave  them  no 
utterance  in  her  words. 

She  seems  to  have  learned  already  that  lesson 
apparently  most  difficult  of  all  for  the  Christian 
to  learn,  that  the  heart  of  Jesus  beats  ever  true 
and  responsive  to  the  sorrows  of  His  children; 
and,  while  the  clouds  may  veil  to  the  eye  of  sense 
the  guiding  hand  of  God,  it  still  does  guide,  and 
His  counsel  shall  ever  stand  the  hope  of  the 
feeble  ones.  He  will  take  His  own  time  to  un- 
ravel the  mysteries  of  His  providence;  but  He 
will  unfold  them  at  the  last,  and  show  that  every 
inscrutable  dealing  has  been  for  the  trial  of  our 
faith. 

So  the  woman  of  Canaan,  with  heart  of 
anguish  and  urgency,  and  yet  serene  amidst  her 
woes,  is  waiting  in  the  citadel  of  her  unfaltering 
faith.  It  cannot  be  that  He  will  turn  His  back 
upon  a  sorrowing  wanderer  simply  because  He  has 


132         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

Stepped  across  the  boundaries  of  His  own  people. 
It  may  be,  too,  that  she  gathered  strength  to  hope 
even  from  the  answer  of  the  Saviour  to  His  dis- 
ciples. He  had  said,  ''I  was  not  sent  but  unto  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  And  yet  He 
had  just  been  driven  from  the  midst  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  and  this  fact  was  probably 
known  to  the  woman  of  Canaan.  ''Though  driven 
from  Israel,"  this  was  perhaps  her  thought,  "His 
heart  is  yet  true  to  Israel."  Despised,  ill-treated, 
and  even  exiled  He  may  be,  yet  will  He  every  cry, 
"Men  of  Israel  ...  to  you  is  the  w^ord  of  this 
salvation  sent,"  even  as  Paul  afterwards  said 
to  the  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles  of  Antioch. 

Would  it  be  wonderful  if,  under  the  circum- 
stances, the  woman  of  Syrophoenicia  reasoned 
after  this  manner :  "Here  the  son  of  David  is  re- 
jected and  persecuted  by  His  countrymen,  and  yet 
He  loves  them  and  would  give  to  them  every  ad- 
vantage belonging  to  their  day  of  grace.  If  then 
He  yearns  over  them,  will  He  spurn  me  from  His 
presence,  who  come  a  broken-hearted  penitent, 
confiding  in  His  faithfulness  and  power  ?  Then  is 
He  not  the  Friend  of  Sinners!  BUT  HE  IS !  He 
is  the  son  of  David,  Who  should  come  to  comfort 
those  who  mourn;  and  I  will  cry  for  mercy  still, 
until  the  benediction  comes,  and  He  say  to  me,  'Go 
thy  way,  be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.'  " 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  133 

And  yet  how  sore  the  trial  was  we  may  not 
know.  Probably  you  know,  Christian  friend, 
something  of  the  painful  silences  of  Jesus.  You 
have  called  upon  Him  in  the  day  of  trouble.  You 
have  filled  your  mouth  with  arguments.  You 
have  stated  your  case  before  the  Lord  and  urged 
your  great  necessity.  But  silence  has  reigned 
around  the  mercy-seat,  and  no  voice  has  come 
forth  to  encourage  your  soul.  For  a  long  season 
you  had  been  left  with  unanswered  prayers  and  an 
apparently  indifferent  Saviour.  Suppose,  then, 
that  in  some  such  hour  of  silence  and  suspense  you 
were  answered  at  last,  but  as  were  the  disciples  in 
their  plea  for  the  woman  of  Canaan.  While  wait- 
ing for  a  favorable  response,  suppose  there  came 
this  answer :  ''I  am  not  sent  to  you  at  all :  your 
people  are  outside  the  pale  of  the  covenant 
promise."  Could  your  faith  pierce  the  outward 
harshness  and  see  with  faith's  unwavering  eye  the 
heart  of  a  compassionate  Redeemer,  still  intending 
to  bless  you  more  abundantly  for  the  long  delay? 
Yet  this  was  the  faith  of  the  woman  of  Syro- 
phoenicia. 

She  still  believes  He  can  help  her,  and  she  is 
determined  not  to  take  "No"  for  an  answer.  One 
would  think  that  after  the  failure  of  this  second 
attempt  to  secure  the  desired  boon  she  might  well 
go  away,  with  dark  and  unhappy  questionings 
10 


134         NEW    SHAFTS    IX    THE    OLD    MIXE 

concerning-  the  mercy  of  Jesus.  But  the  faithful 
woman  does  not  suffer  such  thoughts.  She  has  no 
intention  either  of  giving  up  the  contest.  With 
more  determination  than  ever,  she  renews  the 
struggle ;  and  the  conflict  now  advances  to  another 
stage,  viz. : — 

III.     The  Personal  Application,  and  the 
Contemptuous  Refusal 

Up  to  this  time,  the  woman  seems  to  have  stood 
afar  off,  as  one  unworthy  to  come  into  the  presence 
of  the  Saviour  Lord;  and,  like  the  unclean  lepers, 
in  the  distance  she  had  lifted  up  her  voice  in  cry- 
ing, ''Have  mercy  on  me,  O  Lord,  Thou  Son  of 
David."  But  now,  when  the  intercession  of  the 
disciples  has  failed,  she  resolves  to  venture  into  the 
presence  of  her  Lord  and  Christ.  And  so  she 
came,  pressing  her  way  through  the  company, 
and,  kneeling  down  before  the  King,  she  wor- 
shiped Him.  And,  doubtless  from  a  heart 
wrought  up  to  the  most  intense  anxiety,  she 
cries,  ''Lord,  help  me."  It  was  the  last  resort. 
"If  He  now  turn  me  away,  I  am  undone.  The 
next  word  that  He  shall  speak  will  be  my  joy  or 
my  doom."  How  much  she  might  dread  to  hear 
that  word  spoken!  If  He  has  refused  her 
hitherto,  the  probabilities  are  that  He  will  deny 
her  again. 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  135 

As  we  await  the  coming  of  the  answer,  let  me 
ask  you,  my  friends,  if  you  know  anything  of  this 
persistency  of  faith?  Do  you  ever  reach  the 
throne  of  grace  by  pressing  through  great  diffi- 
culties? Do  you  know  what  it  is  to  draw  near 
before  the  Lord  and  plead  with  Him,  as  Abraham 
interceding  in  behalf  of  Sodom?  Are  there  any 
such  experiences  in  your  Christian  life  as  this  on 
the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  when  you  have 
gained  access  to  the  very  feet  of  Jesus,  and  have 
tested  the  power  and  efficacy  of  prayer  for  personal 
blessing  ? 

So  the  woman  came  and  fell  at  His  feet.  The 
combat  waxes  warmer  and  warmer,  and  the  crisis 
of  battle  is  approaching.  Will  the  Saviour  now 
deny  her  prayer?  Will  He  turn  upon  her,  and 
despise  her,  and  spurn  her?  Surely,  then,  He  will 
belie  His  character  and  name.  Never  before  has 
He  met  with  such  an  urgent  petition,  never  before 
with  such  faith;  and  never  before  has  He  failed 
to  speak  the  word  of  comfort  and  healing  power. 
The  multitude,  therefore,  confidently  awaits  the 
favorable  reply.  The  disciples,  with  looks  of  com- 
passion upon  the  prostrate  suppliant,  and  of 
inquiring  wonder  upon  their  Lord,  as  though  they 
would  divine  the  fullness  of  the  coming  blessing, 
wait  in  even  more  confident  hope.  The  woman 
herself,    bowed    in    sorrow    before   her    Lord,    is 


136         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

wrapped  up  in  two  great  thoughts  :  Her  own  great 
need,  and  the  immediate  presence  of  One  who  con- 
trols disease,  and  possesses  the  keys  of  even  death 
and  the  grave,  and  Who  to  His  power  has  added 
the  record  of  unnumbered  mercies  to  the  afflicted. 
She,  therefore,  waits  in  Hke  manner  for  the  an- 
swer, granting  her  humble  and  believing  prayer. 

And  at  last  the  answer  comes  :  "It  is  not  meet  to 
take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs." 
Oh,  the  crushing  power  of  such  an  answer !  How 
it  must  have  entered  like  the  iron  into  her  soul ! 
How  the  light  must  have  faded  from  her  eyes,  and 
hope  died  away  in  her  heart!  The  heavens  are 
hung  with  greater  blackness  now  than  before  she 
made  known  her  wants.  The  multitude  and  the 
disciples  stand  back  in  silent  amazement.  Some 
wondrous  change  has  come  over  the  Prophet  of 
Galilee.  Never  before  did  such  words  proceed 
from  His  lips. 

The  woman  of  Canaan,  still  at  the  Saviour's 
feet,  might  have  murmured  :  'T  came  to  Jesus  with 
my  burden,  as  He  bids  the  sorrowing  come.  He 
will  be  known  as  the  friend  of  sinners,  and  this  is 
His  friendship !  It  is  limited  by  the  ties  of  blood. 
He  will  hear  the  cry  of  the  needy  only  among  His 
own  people.  Though  they  persecute  and  reject 
Him,  He  will  have  mercy  upon  them  alone ;  and 
I  am  cruelly  denied.     My  petition  is  scorned,  and 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  137 

I  am  spurned  from  the  Saviour's  presence !  I  am 
but  a  dog,  in  the  estimation  of  this  son  of  David." 

Remembering  now  that  these  words  are  our 
own,  and  not  hers,  mark  the  strength  of  her  lowly 
faith.  She  had  broken  down  one  barrier  after 
another,  and  from  one  stage  to  another  of  the  con- 
test she  had  proved  victorious.  When  the  Lord 
says,  ^'I  was  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel,"  she  meets  the  objection  by  the 
persistency  of  her  faith,  marking  her  as  of  Israel 
indeed.  She  anticipates  the  time  set  for  the  call- 
ing of  the  Gentiles,  and  places  herself  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  words  of  the  Lord.  She  knows  not 
what  to  say  in  answer  to  these  words,  but  she  feels 
in  the  bottom  of  her  soul  something  that  out- 
weighs them.  It  is  vain  to  tell  her,  ''This  is  not 
for  thee."  In  vain  even  may  the  Lord  Himself 
tell  it  to  her;  she  will  never  believe  herself  ex- 
cluded from  His  grace. 

''She  feels  that  there  is  here  something  mys- 
terious that  will  be  explained  to  her,  something 
apparently  contradictory  that  will  in  good  season 
be  made  clear  to  her.  Everything  is  possible  to 
the  Lord,  except  to  abandon  a  soul  that  waits  upon 
Him.  And  she  perseveres,  and  she  stoops  more 
humbly,  and  she  prays  more  earnestly,  and  she 
approaches  nearer  to  that  Saviour,  Who  attempts 
to  escape  her;  and  she  prostrates  herself  before 


138         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

Him,  and  cries  out :  'Lord,  help  me !  Sent  to  me 
or  not,  here  Thou  art,  O  Saviour  of  the  unfor- 
tunate! Called,  or  not,  here  am  I,  a  wretched 
mother!  Thou  must  hear  me;  Thou  must  cure 
my  daughter.  I  will  not  let  Thee  go  until  Thou 
hast  delivered  me.'  "      (Monod.) 

In  like  manner,  she  meets  this  additional  ob- 
jection of  her  Lord;  and  passes  on  to  the  final 
stage  of  this  great  conflict,  viz. : — 

IV.     The  Decisive  Reply,  and  the  Victory 

The  Saviour's  words  are  words  of  great  sever- 
ity. It  is  the  renewal,  in  stronger  language,  of 
His  statement  to  the  disciples.  The  children  are 
the  Jews,  and  the  Gentiles  are  the  dogs!  ''How- 
ever cruel  this  expression  may  seem  in  our  lan- 
guage, it  was  far  more  so  in  that  of  the  Jews ;  for 
dogs  never  appear  in  Holy  Writ  except  under  the 
most  repulsive  circumstances.  To  the  Jew,  and 
in  general  to  all  the  nations  of  the  east,  the  dog 
was  an  unclean  animal,  the  type  of  profane  and 
persecuting  impiety,  as  the  swine,  with  which  he 
was  associated,  was  the  type  of  an  inordinate  and 
sensual  impiety." 

The  reply  of  our  Lord  seems,  therefore,  to  be 
decisive  of  the  contest ;  and  we  can  only  look  to  see 
the  woman  retiring  in  defeat,  and  overwhelming 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  139 

sorrow  from  the  field  of  battle.  But,  instead  of 
this,  we  see  in  astonishment  the  tide  of  battle  turn- 
ing, and  victory  crowning  the  faith  of  the  sup- 
pliant. 

"She  cannot  be  overcome,  because  she  will  not 
doubt.  'It  is  Jehovah :  let  Him  do  what  seemeth 
Him  good.'  Though  He  slay  her,  yet  will  she 
trust  in  Him.  Far  from  suffering  herself  to  be 
shaken,  she  is  scarcely  troubled.  She  triumphs 
over  the  contempt  of  Jesus.  She  preserves  all  her 
freedom  of  soul,  and,  with  a  presence  of  mind 
that  we  should  admire  if  our  attention  were  not 
absorbed  by  a  spectacle  far  more  beautiful,  that 
of  her  faith,  she  arms  herself  against  the  Lord 
with  the  very  weapon,  with  which  He  had  just 
pierced  her;  *she  judges  Him  out  of  His  own 
mouth.'  This  humiliating  comparison,  which,  in 
our  opinion,  would  have  been  so  revolting  to  her 
heart,  she  adopts  without  a  murmur,  and  from 
it  draws  a  new  argument  to  overcome  the  Lord's 
resistance ;  so  much  does  she  forget  herself  in  her 
anxiety  to  save  her  daughter,  and  to  gain  the  favor 
of  Jesus.  'Truly  Lord,  I  am  satisfied  with  what 
Thou  sayest.  I  am,  in  comparison  with  Thy 
people,  only  what  a  dog  is  in  comparison  with  a 
child.  But  even  then  I  am  entitled  to  the  portion 
of  a  dog.  The  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs,  which  fall 
from  their  master's  table.     I  ask  for  nothing  more. 


140         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

A  single  crumb  of  that  bread  with  which  Thou 
satisfiest  the  desires  of  Thy  chosen  people,  a  single 
word,  a  single  look,  and  my  daughter  shall  be 
healed.'  "      (Adolph  Monod.) 

This  was  the  decisive  reply.  It  was  the  final 
charge  that  decided  the  fortunes  of  the  day. 
Gathering  up  the  forces  of  her  unfaltering  faith, 
she  hurls  them  forth  in  the  critical  moment  with  a 
power  that  sweeps  everything  before  it.  And  the 
spectacle  of  a  divine  Redeemer  overcome  by  the 
feeblest  of  His  followers  is  presented  for  our  pro- 
foundest  study  and  admiration.  It  is  such  a  vic- 
tory as  occurs  only  in  the  realms  of  faith.  Indeed, 
only  in  this  do  puny  mortal  men  become  omnipo- 
tent. For,  if  it  be  true  that  ''all  things  are  possible 
with  God,"  it  is  also  equally  true  that  ''all  things 
are  possible  to  him  that  believeth." 

It  was  the  last  reply  of  the  woman  of  Canaan 
that  gave  her  the  victory.  Then  it  was  that  Jesus 
answered  and  said,  "O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith : 
be  it  done  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt."  Or,  as 
Mark  has  it,  "For  this  saying  go  thy  way;  the 
demon  is  gone  out  of  thy  daughter."  She  re- 
turned to  her  home  to  find  that  daughter  for  whom 
she  had  so  struggled  delivered  from  the  power 
of  the  enemy.  Who  can  tell  the  joy  and  grati- 
tude of  that  mother's  heart?  The  sacred  penman 
has  drawn  a  veil  over  that  heart  and  humble  home. 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH  141 

In  that  privacy  let  them  remain,  while  we  learn 
the  lessons  of  this  wondrous  story  of  the  woman 
of  Canaan : — 

I.  The  Lord  often  sorely  tries  those  whom  He 
loves.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Saviour 
intended  to  bless  her  from  the  beginning.  For 
this  reason,  among  others,  He  had  gone  into  the 
region  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  And  yet,  before  the 
blessing,  her  confidence  in  Him  was  subjected  to 
the  severest  test,  that  her  faith  might,  for  the  com- 
fort of  others,  appear  the  brighter  and  purer  for 
the  refining  of  this  fire.  '^When  the  woman  saw 
the  result,  how  well  did  she  understand  that  the 
Lord  had  tried  her  much,  because  He  loved  her 
much.  Must  there  not  have  been,  in  the  remem- 
brance alone  of  this  touching  and  terrible  scene, 
enough  to  fortify  her  against  the  griefs  of  life? 
What  this  remembrance  was  for  her,  let  her  story 
be  for  us.  If  the  Lord  tries  us,  be  assured  He 
loves  us.  If  for  us  He  has  appointed  special 
trials,  be  assured  that  in  His  heart  of  hearts  He 
has  kept  us  for  a  special  place."  Of  all  Christian 
people  it  may  be  said,  ''When  He  hath  tried  them, 
they  shall  come  forth  as  the  gold."  And,  'The 
proof  of  your  faith,  being  more  precious  than 
gold  that  perisheth  though  it  is  proved  by  fire, 
may  be  found  unto  praise  and  glory  and  honor  at 
the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ." 


142         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

2.  The  true  spirit  of  prevailing  prayer  for 
others. 

There  must  be  an  identity  of  interest  with  them 
— so  that,  as  we  plead  their  need,  we  can  sincerely 
say,  "Have  mercy  upon  me." 

There  must  be  the  deepest  humility,  and  perse- 
verance even  to  the  very  last  step. 

There  must  be  most  of  all  a  faith  that  shall 
triumph  over  every  obstacle,  even  to  the  snatching" 
of  victory  from  the  very  hands  of  impending 
defeat. 


THE  NEW  BIRTH  AND  THE  NEW 
FAITH 


THE  NEW  BIRTH  AND  THE  NEW  FAITH 

As  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  right  to 
become  children  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His 
name:  who  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. — John  i :  12,  13. 

One  of  the  most  notable  features  of  the  Bible 
is  its  well-balanced  character.  Its  presentation 
of  doctrines  and  its  inculcation  of  duties  are 
marked  by  a  common-sense  wisdom,  moderation 
and  sobriety,  which  commend  them  to  our  best 
judgment  as  both  true  and  fitting.  This  is  all 
the  more  noticeable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
inspired  volume  deals  with  subjects  respecting 
which  there  was  abundant  opportunity  for  a 
different  course. 

A  few  examples  in  illustration  of  this  point 
are  worthy  of  notice.  Take  the  subject  of 
God's  sovereignty.  How  easy  to  present  it,  and 
how  often  has  it  been  presented,  in  such  a  way  as 
to  destroy  the  freedom  of  man  and  lead  one  into 
the  deadliest  fatalism !  But  this  is  not  the  Bible 
presentation  of  the  subject.  God  is  indeed  the 
sovereign  God;  but  the  Scriptures  everywhere 
address  men  as  responsible.  That  responsibility 
is  not  affected  by  the  divine  efficiency.     God  is 

145 


146         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

ever  working  ''both  to  will  and  to  do;"  but  we 
are  none  the  less  to  work  out  our  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling.  Take  again  the  doc- 
trine of  election.  How  common  such  a  view  of 
it  as  encourages  men  in  sin!  But  the  word  of 
God  gives  no  such  view.  We  are  "chosen,"  in- 
deed, but  we  are  "chosen  to  hoUness."  We  are 
"elect,"  and  that  too  "according  to  the  fore- 
knowledge of  God,"  but  it  is  through  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  Spirit  and  the  belief  of  the 
truth.  Still  further,  take  the  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation. It  is  by  faith  alone,  not  works.  And 
yet  it  is  by  a  faith  that  works;  and  believers  are 
ever  bound  to  attest  the  genuineness  of  their 
faith  by  their  good  works.  Once  more,  take 
the  doctrine  of  regeneration.  How  clear  and 
unmistakable  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  that 
we  must  be  born  again  by  the  mighty  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit!  And  yet  with  equal  clearness  we 
are  taught  in  the  same  Scriptures  that  we  be- 
come the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

This  last  example  is  the  one  presented  in  the 
text.  And  these  remarks  will  have  served 
their  purpose  if  they  inspire  us  with  increasing 
confidence  in  the  Bible  as  a  well-balanced  book 
and  a  safe  guide  to  salvation,  while  they  also  in- 
troduce us  to  the  particular  illustration  of  the 


NEW    BIRTH    AND    NEW    FAITH  147 

fact  recorded  in  the  passage  which  now  claims 
our  attention. 

The  text  furnishes  two  views  of  the  way  of 
salvation,  the  one  emphasizing  the  human,  and 
the  other  the  divine  side  of  the  method  in  which 
a  soul  is  to  be  saved.  From  the  one  point  of 
view  it  is  a  salvation  by  faith :  ^'As  many  as  re- 
ceived Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  right  to  be- 
come children  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe 
on  His  name."  From  the  other  point  of  view  it  is 
a  salvation  by  divine  renewal :  ''Who  were  born, 
not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 
will  of  man,  but  of  God."  These  two  views  are  not 
contradictory  but  complementary,  and  it  is  im- 
portant for  us  to  consider  them  as  they  are  here 
presented,  in  their  mutual  connections  and  rela- 
tions. 

Following  our  Lord's  example  in  His  con- 
versation with  Nicodemus,  let  us  take  the  sec- 
ond view  first,  and  consider  for  a  little  while, 

I.     The  Way  of  Salvation  from  its  Divine 
Side 

The  true  followers  of  Christ  are  they  "who 
are  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh, 
nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God."  It  is  worthy 
of  special  notice  that  this  is  the  first  time  in  the 


148         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

Bible  that  the  subject  of  the  soul's  renewal  is 
definitely  mentioned  under  this  figure  of  ''the 
new  birth."  It  is  also  quite  remarkable  with 
what  care,  definiteness,  and  particularity  the 
doctrine  is  here  stated  and  explained.  The  in- 
spired writer  tells  us  not  only  what  this  new 
birth  is,  but  also  and  especially  what  it  is  not. 
His  object  in  this  is  at  once  to  meet  and  correct 
the  abuse  of  it  most  common  in  his  day  and  to 
forestall  the  misconceptions  of  it  most  likely  to 
arise  in  the  history  of  the  church. 

The  evangelist  has  already  described  this  sal- 
vation as  being  a  divine  sonship.  The  Lord 
Jesus  gives  us  the  right  to  become  children  of 
God;  and  the  question  being,  "How  do  we  get 
this  sonship?"  the  answer  from  the  divine  side 
of  the  subject  is,  ''We  are  born  to  it — it  is  ours 
by  right  of  birth."  Then,  meeting  the  question, 
"How  are  we  born  to  it?"  the  evangelist 
answers : — 

I.  "Not  of  blood."  It  is  not  by  any  human 
descent  or  natural  generation.  These  words  of 
John  have  a  special  reference  to  his  kindred 
according  to  the  flesh.  And  they  are  but  the 
echo  of  the  sterner  words  of  his  namesake,  the 
shaggy-mantled  John  the  Baptist.  Above  all 
other  men  of  their  day  the  Jews  boasted  of  their 
lineage.     They  said  to  Christ  what  they  had  said 


NEW    BIRTH   AND    NEW    FAITH  149 

before  to  John,  "We  have  Abraham  to  our 
Father."  "In  their  narrow  pedantic  pride  they 
felt  sure  of  a  part  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah, 
simply  as  descendants  of  Abraham  .... 
Israel  alone  could  please  or  find  favor  with 
God,  and  it  did  so  on  the  footing  of  its  descent. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  was  to  be  strictly  Jew- 
ish, all  other  nations  being  excluded,  and  it  was 
Jewish  by  hereditary  right."  So  when  the 
fierce  preacher  of  the  wilderness  thundered  his 
denunciations  of  sin,  they  sat  in  unruffled  com- 
placency, and  said  in  their  hearts,  "We  are  all 
rioht;  for  we  are  the  children  of  Abraham." 

This  same  pride  of  race  our  blessed  Lord  con- 
fronted when  He  said  to  the  Jews,  "If  ye  were 
Abraham's  children,  ye  would  do  the  works  of 
Abraham."  Paul  also  meets  it  when  he  says  to 
the  Galatians,  "If  ye  are  Christ's,  then  are  ye 
Abraham's  seed."  And  no  one  knew  better 
than  Paul  how  to  meet  this  pride  of  race,  for  he 
himself  had  shared  it  to  the  utmost.  And 
nobody  had  a  better  natural  right  to  this  kind  of 
boasting  than  he  had.  So  he  says  to  the  Philip- 
pians,  "If  any  other  man  thinketh  to  have  con- 
fidence in  the  flesh,  I  yet  more :  circumcised  the 
eighth  day,  of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  a  Hebrew  of  Hebrews;  as  touch- 
ing the  law,  a  Pharisee;  as  touching  zeal,  perse- 
II 


150        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

cuting  the  church;  as  touching  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  in  the  law,  found  blameless."  This 
is  the  spirit  which  the  evangelist  here  meets : 
when  describing  the  divine  side  of  salvation,  he 
says  it  is  a  being  born  ''not  of  blood." 

We  must  not  fail  to  mark  the  significance  of 
the  fact  also  that  the  word  he  uses  is  in  the  plural 
number:  ''not  of  bloods"  is  the  original.  The 
eye  of  the  text,  therefore,  ranges  far  beyond  the 
one  Hebrew  race.  It  marks  the  folly  of  any 
trust  in  any  merely  hereditary  piety.  And  so  it 
is  full  of  meaning  and  pertinence  to  our  times  as 
well  as  to  those  of  the  apostle's  day.  This  dis- 
position to  trust  in  the  piety  of  the  fathers  is  the 
refuge  of  unnumbered  miUions  of  the  adherents 
of  false  religions.  And  multitudes,  even  in 
Christian  countries,  rely  upon  this  as  in  some 
sort  the  ground  of  hope  for  the  favor  of  God. 

Now  also,  as  in  the  days  of  the  evangelist, 
there  is  a  true  Israel  to  whom  the  promise 
comes,  while  Israel  according  to  the  flesh  ex- 
pects to  receive  in  a  carnal  way,  but  fails  to  ob- 
tain, the  blessings  of  the  covenant.  Those  bless- 
ings are  real.  But  they  come  to  the  children  of 
God.  It  is  no  mean  blessing  to  have  a  citizen- 
ship in  this  commonwealth,  but  it  is  of  little 
value  to  him  who  is  unworthy  of  it.  To  be  a 
child  of  the  covenant  is  an  inestimable  mercy; 


NEW    BIRTH   AND    NEW    FAITH  151 

but  of  what  avail  is  it  to  one  who  despises  his 
birthright?  So  to  trust  in  any  hereditary  piety 
when  there  is  no  Hke-minded  hfe  and  character 
is  simply  dealing  with  the  counterfeit,  which  is 
infinitely  different  from  the  genuine,  but  which 
nevertheless  presupposes  the  genuine. 

There  is  a  proper  and  honorable  pride  of  line- 
age; but  this  is  always  marked  by  a  life  worthy 
of  its  origin.  But  no  descent  of  race,  however 
noble,  is  any  passport  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
To  enter  there  we  are  to  be  born,  but  "not  of 
bloods."  The  bluest  of  the  blue  will  be  of  no 
avail. 

2.  ''Nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh."  Advancing 
now  another  step  in  his  presentation  of  the  sub- 
ject, the  evangelist  here  teaches  that  the  chil- 
dren of  God  become  such  not  by  any  efforts 
and  exertions  of  their  natural  hearts,  not  by  the 
will  of  the  fleshly  mind.  Nature  can  never 
change  itself.  'That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh 
is  flesh."  This  expression  of  the  text  marks 
the  futility  of  another  common,  almost  universal 
method  of  seeking  salvation.  Convince  a  man 
of  his  need  of  salvation,  show  him  that  he  has  no 
hereditary  and  prescriptive  right  to  it,  and  he 
will  immediately  set  about  trying  to  make  him- 
self worthy  of  it.  By  prayers  and  tears,  by  self- 
denial  and  some  form  of  asceticism,  he  will  seek 


152         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

to  win  the  favor  of  God,  and  a  right  to  a  place  in 
His  family.  But  all  his  efforts  are  vain.  They 
are  the  blind  and  futile  gropings  after  God  of  the 
carnal  mind^,  the  will  of  the  flesh.  They  are  sim- 
ply and  only  the  damaged  assets  of  a  bankrupt's 
estate.  By  them  the  soul  can  never  be  brought 
into  the  family  of  God.  The  new  birth  is  never 
attained  by  "the  will  of  the  flesh." 

3.  ''Xor  of  the  will  of  man."  We  see  how 
the  inspired  writer  knocks  from  under  us  in  suc- 
cession the  pillars  of  hope  on  which  we  are  in- 
clined to  lean  for  salvation.  The  divine  son- 
ship  we  seek  comes  not  by  any  hereditary  right, 
nor  by  our  own  personal  exertions,  nor  by  any- 
thing that  any  man  can  do  for  us.  This  is  the 
grand  tripod  on  which  we  seek  to  climb  into  the 
family  of  God,  and  the  text  knocks  it  all  over ! 

Let  us  mark  the  force  of  the  last  statement. 
We  become  the  children  of  God  not  by  the  will 
of  man.  Xo  acts  or  deeds  of  others  can  ever 
save  us.  No  man  can  ever  regenerate  the 
human  heart.  The  truth  of  this  statement,  pre- 
sented in  this  bald  form,  most  men  will  perhaps 
admit — certainly  all  men  of  any  intelligence. 
And  yet  how  common  the  impression  that  grace 
must  come  in  particular  channels,  that  it  may  be 
conferred  by  particular  individuals !  What  a 
grand    delusion    the    apostolical    succession    has 


NEW    BIRTH    AND   NEW    FAITH  153 

been  in  the  history  of  the  church!  What  a 
monstrous  perversion  of  a  sacred  and  precious 
truth  is  the  idea  of  baptismal  regeneration, 
as  if  the  priestly  application  of  water  to  the 
body  could  have  any  efficacy  in  cleansing  the  soul 
of  sin!  How  many  people  have  deceived  them- 
selves with  the  belief  that  only  this  or  that  method 
of  celebrating  the  sacraments  was  of  saving 
efficacy!  With  what  insidious  subtlety  and  fas- 
cinating power  are  men  persuaded  that  some  magic 
touch  of  a  fellow-man  can  transform  them  into  the 
children  of  God !  A^vay  with  such  shams  of 
religion!  Let  it  be  once  and  forever  impressed 
upon  our  minds  that  we  are  born  into  the  family 
of  God  not  by  any  will  of  man. 

How  then  do  we  become  God's  children? 
The  text,  having  corrected  all  false  impressions 
about  the  subject,  now  gives  the  true  answer  to 
this  inquiry.  We  are  born  to  this  exalted 
privilege 

4.  ''Of  God."  ''Believers  become  what  they 
are  solely  and  entirely  by  the  grace  of  God.  It  is 
to  God's  free  grace,  preventing,  calling,  con- 
verting, renewing,  and  sanctifying,  that  they  owe 
their  new  birth."  The  Scripture  doctrine  of  the 
soul's  renewal  is  that  it  is  owing  to  the  divine 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "Except  one  be 
born   of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot   enter 


154         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

into  the  kingdom  of  God."  It  is  "not  by  works 
done  in  righteousness,  which  we  did  ourselves, 
but  according  to  His  mercy  He  saved  us,  through 
the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Spirit."  ''Being  born  again,  not  of  cor- 
ruptible seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of 
God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever."  The 
meaning  of  these  passages  is  clear  and  unmistak- 
able; God  only  renews  the  sinful  soul,  and  intro- 
duces it  by  the  power  of  the  divine  spirit  into  the 
privileges  of  sonship  in  His  spiritual  household. 
The  children  of  God  are  ''born,  not  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God." 

It  is  at  this  point  that  we  meet  the  most 
powerful  and  subtle  objection  ever  raised  by  the 
unrenewed  man  to  the  gospel.  You  say,  "If  this 
be  true — and  the  Scriptures  do  certainly  seem  to 
teach  it,  and  I  sincerely  believe  that  it  is  true — 
but  if  it  be  true,  then  I  can  do  nothing  in  the  mat- 
ter of  my  salvation,  and  I  must  just  sit  still  and 
wait  for  the  divine  impulse  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 
You  say  this;  but  the  Bible  does  not  say  it.  Just 
here  we  find  a  preeminent  illustration  of  that 
well-balanced  character  of  God's  word  referred 
to  in  the  beginning  of  these  reflections.  The 
way  of  life,  so  far  examined  from  its  divine  side, 
must  be  considered  also  from  its  human  side  be- 


NEW    BIRTH    AND    NEW    FAITH  155 

fore  the  view  is  complete.  That  other  and  com- 
plementary view  of  salvation,  as  by  faith,  is  also 
furnished  in  the  language  of  this  passage. 

Let  us  now  take  up  this  first  view  of  the  text, 
and  consider 

II.     The  Way  of  Salvation  from  its  Human 
Side 

The  Lord  Jesus  gives  the  right  to  become 
children  of  God  to  "as  many  as  received  Him — 
even  to  them  that  believe  on  His  name."  It  is 
worth  our  while  to  observe  that  the  evangelist 
here  follows  the  example  of  his  divine  Master  in 
thus  linking  together  faith  and  regeneration.  In 
His  conversation  with  Nicodemus  our  Lord 
opens  with  the  necessity  of  being  born  again. 
But  He  closes  the  conversation  with  a  view  of 
the  imperative  call  for  faith  in  the  only  begotten 
Son  of  God,  lifted  up  even  as  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness.  He  spoke  of  the  first 
in  order  to  emphasize  the  second,  correcting  the 
erroneous  views  of  the  self-righteous  Pharisee, 
and  so  leading  him  to  see  that  the  exercise  of 
faith  was  the  only  thing  he  could  do. 

Just  so,  in  the  text,  the  inspired  penman 
describes  and  defines  the  new  birth,  to  prevent 
any  misconception  on  our  part;  but,  reversing  his 


156         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

Master's  order  to  make  more  prominent  our  re- 
sponsibility, he  sets  forth  a  directory  of  our  duty 
in  the  matter  of  seeking  salvation  in  the  first 
verse  of  the  passage  under  consideration.  Our 
divine  sonship  and  eternal  salvation  turn  upon 
our  faith  in  Christ.  He  gives  the  right  to  be- 
come children  of  God  to  ''as  many  as  receive 
Him,  .  .  .  even  to  them  who  believe  on  His 
name."  Let  me  ask  your  thoughtful  attention  to 
the  following  points,  as  suggested  by  these  words  : 

1.  This  faith  is  the  act  of  your  own  mind.  Just 
as  truly  as  it  belongs  to  God  to  give  you  the  re- 
newing of  the  Holy  Spirit,  so  truly  is  it  your  part 
to  exercise  faith  in  the  atoning  Saviour.  I  do 
not  forget  that  faith  itself  is  the  gift  of  God.  He 
furnishes  in  unbounded  profusion  the  motives 
and  incitements  to  belief,  and  by  the  gracious 
influences  of  His  Spirit,  persuades  and  enables 
you  to  cherish  this  trust  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 
But  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  faith  must  be  the 
full,  conscious,  voluntary  exercise  of  your  own 
spirit.  The  call  to  faith,  therefore,  is  every- 
where imperative  in  the  overture  of  the  gospel. 

2.  This  faith  is  here  defined.  That  which  is 
required  of  you  that  you  may  become  a  child  of 
God  is  no  mysterious  thing,  but  as  simple  as  tak- 
ing in  your  hand  an  offered  gift.  Believing  on 
the  name  of  Christ  is  just  receiving  Him  as  He 


NEW    BIRTH    AND    NEW    FAITH  157 

is  offered  to  you.  Faith's  aspect  and  charac- 
teristic is  determined  by  the  object  with  which 
it  has  to  do.  ''Christ,  ever-blessed  object  of 
faith,  is  presented  to  us  in  the  gospel  under  a 
great  many  different  views  and  aspects,  in  cor- 
respondence with  which  faith  bears  different 
forms  and  names.  For  instance,  Is  Christ  pre- 
sented under  the  notion  of  meat  to  the  hungry 
soul?  Then  faith  is  expressed  by  eating.  Is 
Christ  held  out  under  the  notion  of  living 
waters?  Then  faith  is  called  a  drinking.  Is  He 
held  out  as  a  refuge?  Then  faith  is  called  a  flee- 
ing to  Him.  Is  He  held  out  as  a  garment  for 
the  naked?  Then  faith  is  a  putting  Him  on 
for  clothing.  Thus,  according  to  the  aspect  in 
which  Christ  is  presented,  faith  receives  its 
name."  And  so,  in  the  text,  where  the  Lord 
Jesus  is  presented  as  a  gift,  faith  is  simply  re- 
ceiving Him  as  He  is  offered.  ''Receiving 
Christ"  and  "believing  on  Christ"  are  just  two 
descriptions  of  one  and  the  same  act  of  the 
mind. 

3.  This  faith,  as  thus  defined,  implies  these 
four  things  of  vast  moment.  First,  the  grace 
of  God  in  proffering  the  unspeakable  gift.  You 
see  your  kind  neighbor  helping  the  needy.  Is  it 
the  beggar's  gaunt  and  hungry  attitude  that  ar- 
rests your  attention  ?     Is  it  not  rather  the  benevo- 


158         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

lent  aspect  of  the  helper?  God's  grace  in  the 
gift  is  the  notable  feature  in  the  offer  of  life. 
Secondly,  our  need  is  emphasized.  We  take  the 
gift  because  we  are  in  want.  We  are  under  the 
curse,  and  therefore  seek  an  atonement.  We  do 
not  feel  satisfied  in  ourselves,  and  therefore 
come  in  conscious  emptiness  and  barrenness  to 
be  filled  with  the  divine  fullness.  Thirdly,  we 
now  submit  to  be  saved  as  God  would  have  us 
saved.  We  renounce  all  that  stands  opposed  to 
Christ.  To  receive  Him  in  sincerity  is  to  ex- 
clude all  and  every  one  else.  We  take  Him  as 
the  only  Saviour.  It  is  enough  that  we  have 
Him.  Fourthly,  we  now  receive  Him  as  He  is 
offered  to  us.  We  take  Him  as  our  prophet,  to 
instruct  us  in  our  ignorance.  We  welcome  Him 
as  our  priest,  to  make  atonement  for  our  souls 
and  to  make  intercession  for  us.  We  bow  be- 
fore Him  as  our  King,  of  right  the  sovereign  of 
our  hearts  and  lives. 

4.  You  observe  there  is  no  limitation  here. 
The  words  of  the  evangelist  are  of  the  most 
universal  kind :  "As  many  as  received  Him !" 
''Whosoever !"  No  matter  who,  no  matter  when, 
no  matter  where :  as  many  as  receive  Christ  shall 
have  the  right  to  become  the  children  of  God! 
They  shall  be  endowed  with  the  great  and 
precious  prerogative  of  being  not  only  enrolled 


NEW    BIRTH   AND    NEW    FAITH  159 

among  the  number,  but  also  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  children  of  God,  and  heirs  of  everlast- 
ing blessedness. 

5.  The  responsibility  then  lies  with  you  of  de- 
ciding whether  or  no  you  will  have  these  in- 
estimable privileges  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
It  can  hardly  be  without  a  purpose  that  the 
sacred  writer,  in  the  text,  puts  first  the  matter  of 
practical  duty.  The  first  view  of  salvation  here 
given  you  is  from  the  human  side,  the  side  of  per- 
sonal responsibility.  You  are  tempted  to  put 
the  matter  in  this  light:  ''My  safety  depends 
upon  the  new  birth;  I  cannot  renew  my  own 
heart,  and  therefore  I  must  wait  for  God."  On 
the  other  hand,  God  puts  the  matter  in  this  Hght : 
"Your  eternal  safety  rests  upon  your  faith:  he 
that  believeth  shall  receive  the  privileges  of 
divine  sonship  in  the  family  of  God." 

Let  me  close  the  exposition  of  this  Scripture 
with  these  two  practical  considerations,  viz. : — 

I.  Faith  in  Christ  is  the  turning  point  in  the 
sinner's  salvation.  This  is  the  sole  saving  act. 
The  exercise  of  it  seals  your  eternal  safety  and 
opens  to  you  the  gate  of  heaven.  This  way  of 
faith  alone  conducts  you  back  to  God  and  life. 
So  simple  a  thing  as  this  accompHshes  results  of 
such  inconceivable  immensity  as  these.  "Say 
not  in  thy  heart.  Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven 


i6o        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

(that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down)  ?  or,  Who  shall  de- 
scend into  the  abyss  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  up 
from  the  dead)  ?"  No  such  difficult  and  impossi- 
ble thing  is  required  of  you.  "But  what  saith 
it  ?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and 
in  thy  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which  we 
preach :  because  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  shalt  believe  in  thy  heart 
that  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be 
saved." 

2.  The  unspeakable  honor  which  is  here  con- 
ferred upon  him  who  believes  in  Jesus  Christ. 
He  shall  become  one  of  the  children  of  God. 
God  is  doubtless,  in  some  true  and  fruitful  sense, 
the  Father  of  all  men ;  for  ''We  are  His  offspring," 
the  poet  sang,  whom  the  apostle  quotes.  But 
the  divine  sonship  promised  in  the  text  brings 
us  closer  to  God  than  this.  We  are  "made  par- 
takers of  the  divine  nature."  We  share  the 
throne  of  the  divine  Saviour.  We  join  the  song 
of  the  redeemed,  "Thou  w^ast  slain,  and  didst 
purchase  unto  God  with  Thy  blood  men  of  every 
tribe,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation."  The 
blood-bought  children  of  God's  covenant  family 
— such  are  we.  Oh,  the  marvel  of  it !  And  yet 
this  exalted  right  and  privilege  may  be  ours  upon 
the  simple  exercise  of  faith. 

God,  help  us  all  to  believe  in  Christ ! 


THE  GRACIOUS  FAREWELL 


THE  GRACIOUS  FAREWELL 

Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest. — Matthew  xi :  28. 

The  diamond  is  a  beautiful  gem.  With 
its  flashing  faces  and  keen  and  cutting  angles  it 
needs  no  skill  of  the  jeweler's  art  to  reveal  its 
brilliance.  And  yet  something  is  gained  even 
by  the  diamond  from  the  setting  in  which  it  is 
placed.  This  is  a  fitting  illustration  of  the  rela- 
tions  of  each  particular  truth  of  the  gospel  his- 
tory to  its  place  in  the  narrative.  The  truth, 
separate  and  alone,  is  the  radiant  jewel;  and  most 
important  of  all  things  is  it  for  us  to  note  and  ap- 
preciate its  unadorned  splendor  and  beauty.  It 
is  a  subordinate  and  yet  by  no  means  unimpor- 
tant light  which  we  may  find  thrown  upon  the 
truth  by  its  setting  in  the  sacred  story. 

This  that  is  true  of  so  many  passages  in  the 
gospels  is  emphatically  true  of  the  text.  It  is  a 
gem  of  the  rarest  lustre.  It  might  justly  claim 
our  earnest  thought  for  what  it  is  in  itself.  But 
it  shines  in  a  new  light  and  becomes  more  pro- 
foundly significant  when  we  come  to  note  its 
place  in  the  narrative,  and  the  time  of  its  utter- 
ance in  the  ministry  of  our  Lord. 

163 


i64        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

Our  Saviour  had  finished  His  public  work  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  Holy  Land.  He  was 
now  about  to  begin  that  final  and  leisurely  jour- 
neying from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  the  wayside 
words  and  works  of  which  are  recorded  chiefly 
by  Luke.  And  this  passage  is  the  Lord's  last 
message  to  Galilee,  spoken  just  when  He  was 
about  to  set  forth  on  that  journey.  That  this  is 
the  chronological  order  is  now  the  almost  uni- 
versal judgment  of  learned  critics.  I  need  not 
tarry  to  set  forth  the  reasons  for  their  opinion. 
Assuming  it  to  be  correct,  we  cannot  fail  to  be 
struck  with  the  incomparable  sweetness  of  this 
gracious  invitation,  "Come  unto  ^le,  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden,"  following  as  it  does 
the  solemn  words  of  upbraiding,  and  standing 
as  the  final  expression  of  the  Lord's  compas- 
sionate heart  to  the  people  among  whom  His 
ministry  had  been  so  largely  spent  and  among 
whom  He  would  minister  no  more. 

As  the  loving  message  stands  in  a  new  light 
when  we  consider  the  time  of  its  utterance,  so 
also  does  it  gather  new  force  from  the  other 
utterances  of  the  same  parting  occasion.  The 
embassy  from  John  and  the  Saviour's  consequent 
testimony  to  the  forerunner's  character  and 
mission  was,  indeed,  an  earlier  occurrence;  but 
even   that   event   took   place   after   the   greater 


THE   GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  165 

part  of  the  Galilaean  ministry  had  been  fulfilled. 
This  whole  chapter,  therefore,  has  an  obvious  and 
characteristic  unity;  and  the  text  comes  to  us  as 
a  peculiar  message,  and  with  special  meaning, 
because  it  is  the  final  word  of  the  ''Lord's  fare- 
well to  Galilee." 

To  understand  it  and  appreciate  it  we  must 
analyze  and  study  the  portion  of  Scripture  of 
which  it  forms  the  concluding  invitation.  About 
to  leave  the  people  among  whom  for  many 
months  He  had  taught  and  wrought,  and  com- 
mg  to  review  a  ministry  now  well-nigh  ended, 
what  were  the  Saviour's  thoughts?  To  what 
great  truths  does  He  now  give  final  expression? 
With  what  spirit  does  He  emphasize  the  clos- 
ing utterances  of  His  brief  and  faithful  ministry  ? 
An  answer  to  these  questions  is  furnished  in  the 
grouping  of  incidents  here  recorded  by  the 
spirit  of  inspiration.     We  have 

I.     The  Rejection  of  the  Message  Because 
OF  THE  Messenger 

The  character  and  ministry  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist are  delineated  upon  the  sacred  page  in  the 
sharpest  contrast  with  the  nature  and  mission  of 
the  Messiah.  A  lone,  stern  man,  ascetic  in  dis- 
position, an  anchorite  in  life,  possessed  of  a  lofty 


i66         NEW    SHAFTS    IX    THE    OLD    MIXE 

ideal  of  living-,  and  with  a  spirit  that  brooked  no 
compromise  with  sin,  John  was  a  man  eminently 
fitted  for  his  place  and  work.  He  who  should 
be  qualified  to  swing  shut  the  ponderous  gates 
of  one  era  and  open  the  golden  portals  of 
another  needed  to  be  a  man  of  sterner  stuff  than 
men  of  the  common  mold.   And  such  was  John : — 

"John,  than  which  man  a  sadder  or  a  greater, 

Not  till  this  day  has  been  of  woman  born ; 
John,  like  some  iron  peak  by  the  Creator 

Fired  with  the  red  glow  of  the  rushing  morn.'' 

But  the  ministry  of  John  was  not  successful  in 
turning  the  people  from  their  sin.  After  the 
first  flush  of  excitement  created  by  the  new 
herald  of  the  wilderness  had  disappeared,  the 
multitudes  went  back  from  the  pure  and  lofty 
morality  which  John  had  preached,  to  serve  their 
own  lusts  and  pleasures  in  the  bondage  which 
they  loved  so  well.  They  thought  of  the 
messenger:  "This  strange,  severe  and  distant 
man !  We  do  not  understand  him.  We  cannot 
endure  him.  He  has  nothing  in  common  with 
us.  He  stands  upon  a  lofty  pedestal,  and  we 
cannot  come  near  him.  He  knows  nothing  of 
our  daily  life.  He  cannot  enter  into  either  our 
joys  or  our  sorrows.     We  want  for  our  leader 


THE    GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  167 

and  teacher  a  man  who  is  one  of  us.     But  this 
man  has  a  devil.     Away  with  him !" 

And  so  they  turned  from  the  Forerunner. 
And  so  it  came  about  that,  when  his  headless 
body  needed  sepulture,  of  all  the  multitude  who 
had  been  awakened  by  his  preaching  only  a  few 
faithful  followers  remained  to  place  that  mute 
and  mutilated  form  in  the  tomb  and  to  bear 
the  tidings  to  Jesus,  his  Master  and  henceforth 
theirs. 

Then  came  to  this  same  people  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  It  was  a  ministry  of  grace 
and  mercy  and  peace.  For  the  ruling  class, 
self-righteous,  hypocritical,  whited  sepulchres — 
for  them  He  reserved  the  fierceness  of  His  de- 
nunciations, the  terrible  explosions  of  His 
righteous  wrath.  But  for  the  people  His  voice 
was  a  benison;  His  teaching  came  to  them  with 
the  love  and  tenderness  of  a  benediction. 
Among  them  the  opening  words  of  His  ministry 
formed  the  first  beatitude — ''Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit;"  and  His  final  promise  was  this 
one  of  the  text — ''Ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls." 

He,  too,  was  a  man  among  men.  He  was  not 
separate  from  them  save  in  sin.  No  asceticism 
marked  His  life.  With  the  multitude  He  talked 
and  walked.     In  the  home  life  He  found  a  con- 


i68         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

genial  and  welcome  place.  He  was  the 
CHRISTUS  CONSOLATOR!  Healing  virtue 
for  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  men  went  forth 
from  the  lowly  Nazarene.  In  the  hearts  of  the 
stricken  and  afflicted,  and  not  less  of  the  weary 
and  heavy-laden.  His  throne  was  built.  Publi- 
cans and  sinners  followed  in  His  humble  train 
and  formed  the  retinue  of  Zion's  lowly  King! 
The  "woman  who  was  a  sinner"  washed  His  feet 
with  her  tears  when  she  heard  this  gracious  in- 
vitation, ''Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden." 

But  multitudes  there  were  who  did  not  Uke  the 
ministry  of  Jesus.  They  deceived  themselves 
with  the  thought  that  the  trouble  was  with  the 
messenger.  They  had  found  fault  with  John  be- 
cause he  was  not  a  different  kind  of  a  man.  With 
a  fastidiousness  that  was  of  the  essence  of 
cruelty  they  regarded  not  the  elements  of  sad- 
ness and  solemnity  in  John's  life  and  place,  and 
testily  they  said:  "We  do  not  like  him.  He  is 
too  gloomy.  His  views  of  life  are  too  stern." 
Nor  yet  did  Jesus  of  Nazareth  fill  their  beau- 
ideal.  "This  man,"  they  said,  "makes  Himself 
too  common.  He  is  too  accessible.  He  is  want- 
ing in  dignity.  He  ought  to  be  more  exclusive, 
and  keep  the  vulgar  herd  at  a  greater  distance. 
If  He  were  the  kind  of  man  He  ouo:ht  to  be  He 


THE   GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  169 

would  not,  as  He  does,  receive  the  publicans 
and  sinners  and  eat  with  them."  And  so  they 
turned  from  the  message  again,  because  they  did 
not  like  the  messenger. 

This  is  the  truth  which  the  Lord  here  em- 
phasizes. ''Whereunto  shall  I  liken  this  genera- 
tion ?  It  is  like  unto  children  sitting  in  the  market- 
places, who  call  unto  their  fellows  and  say.  We 
piped  unto  you,  and  ye  did  not  dance ;  we  wailed, 
and  ye  did  not  mourn."  Or,  in  modern  language : 
''You  are  so  fastidious  and  hard  to  please,  that  you 
will  not  play  with  us  in  any  sort  of  game.  If  we 
propose  a  make-believe  wedding,  you  will  not 
play;  and  if  we  speak  of  a  make-believe  funeral, 
there  is  no  response."  ''So,"  says  our  Lord  to  the 
Galilaeans,  "are  you  acting  as  to  the  messengers 
of  salvation.  That  salvation  you  put  from  you 
because  you  do  not  fancy  the  messenger  by 
whom  it  is  brought."  "For  John  came  neither 
eating  nor  drinking,  and  they  say,  He  hath  a 
demon.  The  Son  of  man  came  eating  and  drink- 
ing, and  they  say.  Behold,  a  gluttonous  man 
and  a  wine-bibber,  a  friend  of  publicans  and 
sinner !" 

That  Galilsean  generation  are  long-lived. 
Possibly  some  of  them  are  living  yet.  But 
"wisdom  is  justified  by  her  works." 

Again,  we  have 


170        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 


II.     The  Coordinate  Limits  of  Privilege  and 
Responsibility 

This  is  the  solemn  truth  to  which  such  weighty 
emphasis  is  given  by  the  Saviour's  sorrowful  up- 
braiding of  the  cities  'Svherein  most  of  His 
mighty  works  were  done,  because  they  repented 
not."  They  had  had  among  them  the  matchless 
ministry  of  the  Messiah,  and  it  had  been  pre- 
ceded by  the  stirring  evangel  of  the  new  Elijah. 
But  the  one,  as  the  other,  had  been  a  compara- 
tively fruitless  ministry.  And  at  its  close  the 
Lord  must  face  the  fact,  more  sad  for  them  than 
for  Him,  that  ''Galilee  had  rejected  Him  .... 
At  Nazareth,  the  sweet  mountain  village  of  His 
childish  days,  at  Nazareth,  with  all  its  idyllic 
memories  of  His  boyhood  and  His  mother's 
home,  they  had  treated  Him  with  such  violence 
and  outrage  that  He  could  not  visit  it  again. 
And  even  at  Chorazin  and  Capernaum  and  Beth- 
saida,  on  the  Eden-shores  of  the  silver  lake,  in 
the  green  delicious  plain  w'hose  every  field  He 
had  traversed  with  His  apostles,  performing 
deeds  of  mercy  and  uttering  words  of  love — 
even  there  they  loved  the  whited  sepulchres  of  a 
Pharisaic  sanctity  and  the  shallow  traditions  of  a 
Levitical     ceremonial     better     than     the     light 


THE   GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  171 

and  life  which  had  been  ofifered  them  by  the  Son 
of    God.        (Farrar's    Life    of    Christ,    Chapter 

XLII.) 

They  had  been  Hfted  to  heaven  in  privileges, 
but  they  had  failed  to  improve  them.  They  had 
incurred  a  fearful  responsibility  and  merited  the 
woe  pronounced  against  them.  Other  greater 
and  mightier  cities  would  have  repented  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes;  but  they  continued  in  their 
proud  impenitence.  So  fell  the  curse  upon 
them.     And  it  rests  upon  them  still. 

One  who  has  seen  the  land  and  the  lake  of 
Galilee  thus  describes  the  situation :  "Exquisite 
still  in  its  loveliness,  it  is  now  desolate  and  dan- 
gerous. The  birds  still  sing  in  countless 
myriads;  the  water-fowl  still  play  on  the  crystal 
mere;  the  brooks  still  flow  into  it  from  the 
neighboring  hills,  'filling  their  bosoms  with  pearl, 
and  scattering  their  path  with  emeralds;'  the 
aromatic  herbs  are  still  fragrant  when  the  foot 
crushes  them,  and  the  tall  oleanders  fill  the  air 
with  delicate  perfume  as  of  old;  but  the  vine- 
yards and  fruit-gardens  have  disappeared;  the 
fleets  and  fishing-boats  cease  to  traverse  the 
lake;  the  hum  of  men  is  silent;  the  stream  of 
prosperous  commerce  has  ceased  to  flow.  The 
very  names  and  sites  of  the  towns  and  cities  are 
forgotten;  and,  where  they  once  shone  bright 


172        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

and  populous,  flinging  their  shadows  across  the 
sunHt  waters,  there  are  now  gray  mounds  where 
even  the  ruins  are  too  ruinous  to  be  distinguish- 
able."    (Farrar,  ut  supra.) 

The  homes  of  the  Galilseans  to  whom  Jesus 
ministered  now  lie  in  unknown  graves,  the  most 
impressive  illustration  of  that  darkness  and  death 
to  which  light  unimproved  must  ever  bring  the 
souls  of  men.  The  eyes  of  some  who  looked 
upon  the  'Trophet  of  Galilee"  were  destined  to 
tarry  and  behold  the  storm  of  fire  and  blood  that 
broke  upon  the  guilty  land.  They  had  been 
lifted  on  high  by  their  glorious,  golden  oppor- 
tunity. No  such  woe  ever  fell  upon  a  people  as 
rolled  like  a  devastating  flood  around  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  the  just  penalty  of  their  rejection  of  the 
Son  of  God. 

The  solemn  lesson  is  still  pertinent  and 
pungent.  We  are  encompassed  by  the  mar- 
velous mercies  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
They  raise  us  to  heaven.  We  are  weighted  with 
the  tremendous  responsibilities  of  these  privileges. 
They  may  sink  us  into  hell. 

The  wider  view  reveals  the  distinguishing 
mercies  showered  upon  us  as  a  Christian  people. 
As  to  the  people  of  Galilee,  God  has  given  us  a 
goodly  heritage.  A  fairer  land  is  ours  than  was 
theirs.     Under  the  blessings  of  a  benign  gov- 


THE    GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  173 

ernment,  all  the  arts  of  peace  are  flourishing  with 
us  as  they  never  could  with  them.  They  had 
their  just  and  righteous  laws;  we  have  them  too, 
and  more.  And  in  all  the  elements  and  in- 
fluences of  our  holy  faith  how  far  are  we  exalted 
above  the  highest  point  of  privilege  that  ever 
was  vouchsafed  to  them!  The  Sabbath 
dawned  for  them,  but  it  was  hedged  about  with 
ceremonial  rigidness  and  severity.  It  called 
them  to  the  synagogue,  and  to  the  pure  and  holy 
but  stern,  uncompromising  law.  Again  and 
again  their  pilgrim  feet  were  called  to  tread  the 
way  to  Zion ;  and,  in  the  feasts  and  sacrifices  of  the 
Holy  City,  they  dwelt  in  the  shadow  of  the  bet- 
ter things  revealed  in  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of 
God.  And  on  some  rare  day,  once  perhaps 
within  a  lifetime,  their  ears  might  be  saluted  with 
the  sound  of  the  silver  trumpets  that  proclaimed 
the  dawn  of  the  year  of  jubilee. 

But  for  us  the  Sabbath  comes  as  the  day  of  the 
Son  of  man.  With  all  pervading  sanctity  and 
spiritual  power  it  is  as  the  days  of  heaven.  It 
brings  immunity  from  toil.  It  gives  us  present 
rest.  It  comes  freighted  with  ever-blessed 
memories.  It  is  an  angel  of  hope  pointing  us 
to  the  glory  and  rest  of  the  everlasting  Sabbath. 

And  this  Sabbath  summons  us  to  the 
sanctuarv.     Within  these  sacred  walls  our  hearts 


174         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

are  broken,  and  then  are  comforted.  Here  our 
carnal  hopes  are  slain  by  the  law.  Here  we  are 
revived  by  the  gospel. 

"Here  speaks  the  Comforter,  tenderly  saying, 
'Earth  has  no  sorrows  that  heaven  cannot  cure.'  " 

Here  we  are  gathered  to  the  feast  of  bless- 
ing. No  holocaust  or  hecatomb  attends  our 
sacred  festival.  We  sit  in  heavenly  places, 
being  brought  nigh  to  God  by  the  precious 
blood  of  the  Lamb  "slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world."  And  here  upon  our  slavish  ears 
there  break,  in  sweetest  tones,  the  silvery  notes 
that  sound  the  jubilee  of  liberty. 

Far  above  the  privileges  of  ancient  Galilee  are 
the  mercies  we  enjoy.  They  were  raised  to 
heaven.  Multitudes  of  men  there  were,  noble, 
cultured,  inquiring;  but  among  the  Galilseans 
only  ministered  He  "Who  spake  as  never  man 
spake."  They  were  greatly  exalted;  and  we  are 
lifted  higher  far  than  they. 

But  we  need  a  nearer  view.  It  is  of  our  in- 
dividual privileges  that  we  need  specially  to 
reflect.  It  is  our  personal  responsibility  that  we 
must  seek  particularly  to  realize.  And  how 
shall  I  portray  the  one  so  that  we  may  truly  feel 
the  other? 

I  remember  the  home  where,  it  may  be  in  the 


THE    GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  175 

years  long  gone,  God  gave  you  birth  and  nur- 
ture. It  was  not  a  perfect  home.  The  beloved 
parents  were  not  all  they  should  have  been;  nor 
were  the  influences  of  the  old  fireside  always  as 
pure  and  sweet  as  they  might  have  been.  But 
nevertheless  it  is  true  that  no  such  home  has 
ever  been  found  where  Christianity  has  never 
shown  its  power.  There  you  first  heard 
the  story  of  the  Cross.  There  w^ere  you  first 
brought  in  contact  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
There  you  first  saw^  the  fruits  of  a  Christian 
faith ;  and,  without  knowing  its  incomparable 
sweetness,  you  there  first  learned  the  principles 
of  a  Christian  morality. 

From  that  blessed  haven  of  home  you  sailed 
forth  upon  life's  ocean.  Your  bark  was  freighted 
with  precious  things  and  undergirded  with  firm 
and  holy  principles.  You  ride  the  stormy  waves 
in  safety  now,  because  you  then  left  a  home 
where  the  Lord  had  been,  and  whither  He  had 
loved  to  come. 

You  are  strong  to-day,  because  you  are  en- 
compassed by  influences  that  come  from  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  You  are  in  a  Christian  community. 
The  people  of  God  are  round  about  you.  The 
institutions  of  our  holy  religion  are  interlocked 
with  the  well-being  of  your  soul,  your  family, 
your  society,  and  your  life.     All  holy  influences 


176         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

move  upon  you.  The  quiet  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
open  door  of  the  sanctuary,  the  voice  of  the 
''messenger  that  bringeth  good  tidings,"  the 
song,  the  service,  and  the  sacraments,  all  speak 
to  your  heart  with  a  tender  persuasion,  with  a 
loving  urgency.  The  divine  Spirit  also  speaks 
in  "the  still  small  voice,''  in  the  earnest  entreaty 
of  infinite  desire.  Aye !  once  more  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  comes  to  His  own.  The  Prophet  of 
Galilee  still  walks  among  His  people.  His  hands 
are  still  mighty  to  heal,  His  gracious  words  are 
yet  mighty  to  save.  The  prophecy  is  still  made 
good :  "The  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the 
lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf 
hear,  and  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor 
have  good  tidings  preached  to  them." 

This,  my  friends,  is  your  place,  and  these  are 
the  high  and  holy  privileges  which  lift  you  so  far 
above  the  multitude  of  your  fellows.  They 
raise  you,  as  Capernaum,  even  to  heaven.  If 
they  be  improved,  that  heaven's  gates  shall  in 
due  time  swing  wide  their  portals  to  give  you 
blessed  welcome. 

But  if  these  privileges  be  neglected,  what 
then?  If  from  such  holy  influences  one  severs 
himself,  if  to  such  sights,  which  angels  desire  to 
look  into,  he  be  blind,  if  to  such  sounds  as  are 
made  by  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life  he 


THE    GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  177 

stops  his  ears,  if  through  such  barriers  of  sweet 
persuasiveness  as  Infinite  Love  would  cast 
around  his  spirit  he  breaks  his  way  down  to  death, 
shall  he  not  deserve  to  die,  and  to  die  forever? 
Oh,  yes,  my  friends,  to  fail  of  eternal  life  under 
any  circumstances  is  an  infinite  calamity!  But 
to  go  down  to  death  from  a  Christian  land,  and 
from  the  midst  of  a  Christian  congregation,  and 
from  under  the  blessed  sound  of  the  gospel,  is, 
with  deliberate  and  awful  abandonment,  to  seek 
and  find  the  nethermost  regions  of  everlasting 
despair. 

The  Saviour's  review  of  His  ministry  in 
Galilee  brings  the  shadows  upon  His  human 
spirit.  And,  while  pronouncing  woes  upon  the 
favored  land.  He  takes  refuge  where  every  faith- 
ful, even  though  unsuccessful.  Christian  worker 
may  find  a  similar  peace  and  joy,  while  he  goes 
his  way  and  leaves  the  truth  to  accomplish  its 
predetermined  work.  And  so  we  come  to 
another  great  topic  of  this  farewell  chapter, 
viz. : — 

HI.     The  Sovereignty  of  God  in  the  Dispen- 
sation OF  Mercy 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Jesus  answered  and 
said,  *'I  thank  Thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven 
and  earth,  that  Thou  didst  hide  these  things  from 


178         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE    OLD    MINE 

the  wise  and  understanding,  and  didst  reveal 
them  unto  babes :  yea,  Father,  for  so  it  was  well- 
pleasing  in  Thy  sight." 

This  thanksgiving  of  Christ,  in  the  survey  of 
His  ministry  in  Galilee,  is  suggestive  of  many 
lessons.  Let  me  name  here  only  the  most  im- 
portant.    There  is 

I.  The  Fact. — The  course  of  the  gospel,  even 
under  the  preaching  of  Christ,  was  not  always 
successful.  Among  lowly  men,  and  not  among 
men  who  prided  themselves  on  their  speculative 
and  philosophical  attainments,  nor  yet  among 
men  of  worldly  shrewdness,  the  clever  and  sharp- 
witted — not  with  these,  but  among  babes — not 
among  the  wise  and  prudent,  but  among  the 
number  of  the  humble — the  truth  had  won  its 
way  and  gained  its  greatest  triumphs.  "The 
Pharisees  and  the  lawyers  rejected  for  them- 
selves the  counsel  of  God;"  but  ''the  common 
people  heard  Him  gladly."  The  glad  tidings 
from  the  Prince  of  Peace  were  welcomed  only 
by  the  meek  and  lowly  mind. 

It  is  so  still.  "For  behold  your  calling, 
brethren,  that  not  many  wise  after  the  flesh,  not 
many  mighty,  not  many  noble,  are  called :  but 
God  chose  the  foolish  things  of  the  w^orld,  that 
He  might  put  to  shame  them  that  are  wise;  and 
God  chose  the  weak  things  of  the  world,  that 


THE    GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  179 

He  might  put  to  shame  the  things  that  are 
strong;  and  the  base  things  of  the  world,  and 
things  that  are  despised,  did  God  choose,  yea 
and  the  things  that  are  not,  that  He  might  bring 
to  nought  the  things  that  are:  that  no  flesh 
should  glory  before  God."  We  must  become  as 
little  children,  or  we  can  never  enter  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  The  mighty  God,  who  fills  im- 
mensity with  His  presence,  dwells  only  with  the 
humble  and  contrite  heart.  The  gospel  now, 
as  in  the  days  of  Christ,  can  never  win  its  way 
among  the  proud  and  self-righteous  of  the  world. 
Its  fruitful  field  is  among  the  broken  hearts. 

2.  This  was  and  is  of  the  ordering  of  God.  It 
is  of  God's  sovereign  pleasure  that  the  gospel 
succeeds  or  fails.  Paul  may  plant  and  Apollos 
may  water;  but  it  is  God  who  giveth  the  in- 
crease. Against  this  thought  men  often  rebel, 
and  yet  with  no  more  reason  than  against  the 
appointments  of  their  births  and  daily  lives.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  some  are  surrounded  with  in- 
fluences more  powerfully  tending  to  salvation 
than  others.  Multitudes  are  born  under  such 
conditions  as  make  it  all  but  absolutely  certain 
that  they  will  never  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
Qirist.  Can  we  explain  this  ?  No !  How,  then, 
ought  we  to  feel  about  it?  As  to  those  from 
whom  these  things  are  hid,  perfect  confidence 


i8o         NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  surely  da 
right.  And  as  to  ourselves,  if  to  a  docile  spirit 
the  Lord  has  revealed  Himself,  adoring  thank- 
fulness and  praise,  while  we  humbly  bow  in 
everything  to  the  sovereign  will  of  God,  "Yea, 
Father,  for  so  it  was  well-pleasing  in  Thy  sight.'' 

3.  This  does  not  encourage  presumption,  nor 
remove  responsibility.  The  woes  pronounced 
on  Galilee  presuppose  guiltiness  in  the  favored 
cities.  We  must  never  forget  that  the  same 
voice  that  said,  'T  thank  Thee,  O  Father  .  .  . 
that  Thou  didst  hide  these  things  from  the  wise 
and  understanding,"  said  also  to  proud  Caper- 
naum and  haughty  Bethsaida,  ''Woe,  woe  unto 
you  .  .  .  for  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for 
you."  The  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  account- 
ability of  man  here,  as  everywhere  in  the  Bible, 
rim  on  parallel  lines.  They  are  the  two  ever- 
present,  and  ever-parallel  rails  on  which  alone 
can  move  to  a  blessed  destiny  the  train  of  life. 

4.  Nor  does  this  truth  with  which  our  Lord 
here  comforts  Himself  drive  any  one  to  despair. 
The  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty  in  the  dis- 
pensation of  mercy  is  a  doctrine  of  hope.  Do 
you  say  it  is  revealed  only  in  the  Scriptures,  this 
divine  sovereignty?  Ah!  my  friends,  its 
sternest  lines  are  to  be  seen  in  nature  and  life.   It 


THE   GRACIOUS   FAREWELL  i8i 

is  in  the  Bible,  to  be  sure;  but  throughout  the 
entire  Scriptures  the  predominant  aspect  of 
divine  sovereignty  is  an  aspect  of  mercy.  The 
purpose  of  God  is  there;  but  it  is  a  purpose  of 
salvation.  From  Genesis  to  Revelation  run  the 
unbroken  links  of  a  mighty  chain;  but  it  is  the 
golden  chain  which  binds  the  penitent  soul  to 
God  and  eternal  life.  The  whole  Bible  is  a 
grand  revelation  of  a  grand  purpose  of  grace 
and  eternal  mercy. 

So  the  farewell  words  of  Christ  leave  the  sol- 
emn subject  by  turning  our  attention  to  the 
crowning  element  of  the  mighty  theme,  viz. : — 

IV.     The  Assuring  and  Gracious  Invitation 

The  end  was  now  come.  The  Lord's  last 
words  to  Galilee  are  to  be  spoken.  He  had 
already  lifted  the  veil  from  their  hearts  and  faith- 
fully set  before  them  the  fact  (which  they  would 
fain  disguise  to  themselves)  that  their  opposi- 
tion was  really  to  the  truth  of  God,  and  that  it 
was  only  the  shallowest  color  of  an  excuse  that 
they  did  not  fancy  the  messengers  by  whom  that 
truth  had  been  proclaimed.  He  had  solemnly 
emphasized  the  vast  responsibilities  that  accom- 
panied their  extraordinary  privileges.  By  His 
solemn  prayer  of  thanksgiving  He  had  silently 
13 


i82        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

lifted  them  above  all  their  petty  cavils  and  quib- 
blings  at  His  ministry  and  methods,  and  pointed 
them  to  the  adorable  sovereignty  of  God  in  giv- 
ing and  withholding  the  measures  of  His  grace, 
while  He  had  given  to  them  abundant  persua- 
sives to  turn  and  live. 

And  thus  contemplating  that  gracious  scheme 
of  life,  marking  its  elements  of  strength  and 
beauty,  realizing  its  divine  completeness,  know- 
ing the  perfection  of  its  agencies  and  instru- 
mentalities, and  now  especially  noting  the  needy, 
perishing  condition  of  those  among  whom  He 
had  lived  and  labored,  He  had  compassion  upon 
them  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd.  With  in- 
finite desire  His  heart  went  forth  to  them.  With 
the  last  utterances  of  His  public  ministry  among 
them,  He  summons  all  the  divine  forces  of  His 
spirit  to  crowd  into  human  speech  the  infinite 
depths  of  His  eternal  longing  and  the  sweetest 
pathos  of  His  gracious  invitation.  It  is  the  last 
appeal  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  to  the  warring, 
weary  world.  *'A11  things  have  been  delivered 
unto  Me  of  My  Father :  and  no  one  knoweth  the 
Son,  save  the  Father;  neither  doth  any  know 
the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever 
the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  Him.  Come  unto  Me, 
all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest." 


THE   GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  183 

My  brethren,  I  cannot  think  these  words  need 
any  exposition.  To  set  them  forth  in  their  true 
historic  place  is  to  put  them  in  a  blaze  of  light, 
to  invest  them  with  an  incomparably  sweet  and 
tender  interest.  This  I  have  sought  to  do. 
The  Saviour's  gracious  invitation  is  His  loving 
and  last  farewell  to  the  Galilseans.  What  mean- 
ing does  this  fact  give  to  the  words?  Let  us 
mark 

I.  The  fullness  of  the  assurance.  *'A11  things 
have  been  delivered  unto  Me  of  My  Father  1" 
What  blasphemy  in  a  mere  man !  How  fitting 
and  needful  language  in  the  mouth  of  your 
Saviour  and  mine !  Only  on  one  other  occa- 
sion does  our  Lord  claim  this  royal  investiture 
of  supreme  and  universal  power.  It  was  in 
delivering  the  great  commission.  He  was  then 
ascending  to  the  throne.  Now  He  is  going  to 
Jerusalem,  to  be  lifted  up  upon  the  Cross  of 
Calvary.  Going  down  to  death,  and  rising 
on  the  heights  of  life  to  die  no  more,  both  here 
and  there  He  claims  to  be  the  sovereign  King. 
Therefore  He  has  the  power  to  give  what  here 
He  promises.  Through  Him  alone  are  all  the 
promises  of  God  both  Yea!  and  Amen!  "Neither 
doth  any  know  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and 
he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal 
Him." 


i84        NEW    SHAFTS    IN    THE   OLD    MINE 

2.  The  loving  invitation.  "Come  unto  ME." 
We  must  give  the  words  a  new  emphasis.  Not 
in  forms  or  systems  of  worship,  not  in  the  minis- 
tration of  the  priest  nor  in  the  sacrifices  of  the 
altar,  not  in  God  Himself,  the  vaguely-styled  All- 
Father — in  none  of  these  shall  we  find  the  goal 
of  hope,  the  end  of  our  desire.  Christ  only  is 
"the  Way."  Christ  only  is  the  End.  "Come 
unto  ME." 

3.  The  invited.  "All  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden."  To  the  toiling  and  the  burdened  alike 
does  this  sweet  message  come.  And  it  is  a 
notable  fact  that  when  these  farewell  words  were 
ended  and  Jesus  sat  within  the  house,  a  heavy- 
laden  penitent,  "the  woman  that  was  a  sinner," 
came  and  washed  His  feet  with  tears,  and  broke 
for  them  the  alabaster  cruse  of  ointment.  Can 
we  doubt  that  she  was  the  first  of  a  long  line  of 
sorrowing  souls  to  accept  the  gracious  invita- 
tion? 

4.  Last  of  all,  the  promise.  "I  will  give  you 
rest."  Blessed  words,  that  sound  a  divine  bene- 
diction over  the  toiling,  sinning,  sorrow-laden 
world!  Rest  from  penalty,  from  sin,  from  sor- 
row. Rest  for  the  soul — a  balm  that  touches 
and  heals  the  sore  and  wounded  part.  Rest  in 
bearing  the  yoke  of  Christ,  whose  yoke  is  easy 
and  whose  burden  is  light ! 


THE   GRACIOUS    FAREWELL  185 

The  words  were  done.  With  this  sweet  as- 
surance the  Lord's  farewell  was  ended.  He 
ministered  in  Galilee  no  more. 


